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Book K i. 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1919, NO. 9 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN 
AND IRELAND 9 






By I. L. KANDEL 



[Advance Sheets from the Biennial Survey of Education, 1916-1918] 




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1919 



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iUL H 1919 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 

By I. L. Kandel. 



Contents. — Introduction — England : The schools during the war — Medical inspection of 
schools — Education of working boys and girls — Secondary education during the war. 
The position of science in the educational system — Position of modern languages— 
Tendencies in secondary education — Salaries and pensions — Adult education — Educa- 
tional . reconstruction and public opinion — Education Act, 1918. Scotland: The 
schools during the war — Teacher's salaries — The reform of education — The Scottish 
education bill. Ireland. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The educational movements that have been taking place in Great 
Britain during the past two or three years have aroused widespread 
interest among teachers and publicists in this country. The fol- 
lowing report is an attempt to analyze these movements and to 
indicate their significance in the broader movement for reconstruc- 
tion. The educational reforms that have already been introduced 
and the developments that are promised for the future are not merely 
the result of an emotional reaction induced by the war. Their mean- 
ing will be entirely lost unless their position in the wider program is 
realized. Nor are the mere details of the new acts of great signifi- 
cance in themselves, however striking the promised increase in edu- 
cational expenditure, or the raising of the school age, or the increased 
supervision of adolescent welfare may be. For the student of edu- 
cation the feature that is of profound significance is the recognition 
that a sound educational system is the best foundation for the social 
and political reconstruction that must follow the war, and since the 
keynote of this reconstruction is the improvement of the position and 
opportunities of every man and woman as an individual and as a 
citizen, the educational reforms must be considered as a contribution 
toward the further development of the aspirations of democracy and 
humanity. 

The present report aims accordingly to give in broad outline the 
general features of the developments of the past few years. It makes 
no attempt to deal exhaustively with the course of educational 
thought or progress during this time. In many cases this would be 
impossible. The influences of the war on education have not yet 
spent themselves, and to that extent it has not been deemed wise to 
deal with certain topics that will bear fruitful study at a later 

3 



4 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

date. It is premature, for example, to consider the effects of the 
war on university education. The universities have practically been 
depleted, and the energies of those who remained in them were 
devoted to war work in the main. It would be mere guesswork to 
attempt to predict their future course. The same arguments apply 
to the effects of the war on the education of women. To the extent 
that the educational reforms already considered aim to extend the op- 
portunities for general education, to that extent the opportunities 
are open to boys and girls, to men and women equally. But what 
influence the increased participation of women in general public 
activities during the war will exercise on education, it would be 
premature to decide. Technical and vocational education in general 
will undoubtedly be profoundly affected both in their administration 
and in their underlying pedagogy by the new methods of training 
in which the demands of efficiency and speed had to be met. At 
present, however, any interpretation of the developments in training 
for war work must be postponed until sufficient data are at hand to 
warrant adequate conclusions or to afford reliable guidance for 
normal practice. 

The following pages deal with the course of education and school 
medical inspection during the past few years, with the proposals for 
the reform of secondary education, with the various Government 
reports on different branches of education, and finally with the de- 
velopments that led up to the passage of the education act in Eng- 
land and the significance of the act itself. A similar but briefer 
account is given of educational conditions in Scotland. Ireland is 
included, although her educational system is unlike those of England 
and Wales or Scotland, mainly because the stirrings for reform are 
noticeable there and are directly influenced by the events on the other 
side of the Channel. Indeed, no part of the British Empire will re- 
main unaffected by the Fisher Act. Recent educational reports from 
Canada, Australia, and Xew Zealand indicate that attention had 
already been directed to England before the Fisher bill was placed 
on the statute book. 

. Much has been attributed to the education act that is not contained 
therein. The act must be read in connection with the act of 1902 to 
obtain a picture of the English educational system, but it must 
always be remembered that the Board of Education has the power to 
modify or extend the system by administrative regulations and that 
its annual codes have the effect of law when presented to Parlia- 
ment. The system thus combines a legal minimum with the flexibility 
and elasticity that insure progress. In general the act of 1918 makes 
the following provisions: 

1. Extension of the age of compulsory attendance, without exemp- 
tion, to 14 ; or to 15 and even 16 by local by-laws. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 5 

2. Provision for medical inspection and treatment and physical 
welfare before and through school to 18. 

3. Establishment of nursery schools for children between 2 and 5 
or 6.. 

I. Establishment of compulsory continuation school attendance 
from 14 to 1G and ultimately to 18. 

5. Promotion and support of poor but able pupils, with free tuition, 
scholarships, and maintenance grants. 

6. Concentration of supervision over the activities and welfare of 
children and adolescents in the hands of education authorities, e. g., 
child labor and employment, labor bureaus, recreation and health. 

7. Inspection and .supervision of private schools. 

8. Preservation of the independence of local authorities, extension 
of their functions and powers, and insistence on minimum standards 
with encouragement through grants to advance as far as possible. 

9. Equal distribution of the cost of education between local rates 
and national taxes. 

The act does not define the character of advanced work in the ele- 
mentary schools nor the nature of the work in the new continuation 
schools; it barely refers to secondary schools which are undergoing 
many changes through administrative regulations; teachers' salaries 
are only indirectly touched upon. The most serious omission not only 
in the act but in the general discussion of the educational needs of 
the time is the absence of all reference to the training of teachers. 
The only guarantee for the success of the reconstruction program is 
the teacher, and yet the means by which he is to be trained have not 
been discussed. Improved salaries and pensions will undoubtedly 
produce a large number of good candidates, but in themselves salaries 
and pensions can not make good teachers. The existing system of 
training was regarded as inadequate for the needs of the elementary 
schools ; for the secondary schools a very small percentage of teachers 
had specific training for teaching; while 'for the new continuation 
schools a new type of teacher must be developed. Parliamentary 
procedure is not required for the reorganization of the whole system 
and methods of training teachers; it rests with the Board of Educa- 
tion, and it remains to be seen how these needs will be met. 

For the American student peculiar interest attaches to the educa- 
tional reforms of Great Britain. They represent a genuine attempt 
to realize the ideals for which the war has been fought. As a con- 
tribution toward a definition of democracy through the schools, they 
will command the attention of English-speaking educators the world 
over. But in the present crisis in American education, the principles 
on which these reforms are founded deserve particular attention. 
"Whether they will be realized in the near future or not, the hopes 
of those who desire to see increasing participation of the Federal 



6 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

Government in the educational procedure of the United States are 
inevitably bound up with the consideration of such questions of 
administration as Great Britain has already determined. Such prob- 
lems as the relation of the central to local authorities in educational 
affairs, the reconciliation of centralized supervision with the promo- 
tion of local initiative and progress, the due apportionment of central 
and local expenditure for education, have been settled by that genius 
for compromise that characterizes the British Government. In this 
country these problems still call for decision within State boundaries, 
and have barely been hinted at in the larger program that is now 
before the public. Those who fear bureaucratic control, as well as 
those who apprehend local indiiference as a consequence of external 
action, may study both the English and the Scottish systems with 
profit. In addition some of the concrete provisions of the English act, 
as analyzed above, afford an indication of some of the needs that still 
remain to be met in this country on a wider scale than at present. 
For the rest both British and American students can to-day cooperate 
in promoting the world cause of democracy by learning to under- 
stand each other, and by carefully observing the contribution that 
each is making through the education of future generations toward 
the common cause. 



ENGLAND. 

THE SCHOOLS DURING THE WAR. 

The past two years will prove to be the most notable in the history 
of English education. They will bear testimony to the awakening 
on the part of the whole nation to the value of a comprehensive 
national organization of education. The enactment of a new educa- 
tional law August, 1918, is but the culmination of a period of activ- 
ity and thought in the field of education that is almost unparalleled 
in the annals of English history. The most striking feature of the 
movement is not the volume of literature or the number of reports by 
professional organizations and Government commissions on different 
phases of education, so much as the popular interest in the subject as 
reflected in the current press and magazines. For the first time, 
probably, a welcome has been given to the various discussions of ed- 
ucation, hitherto reserved only for reports of scholarship and ex- 
amination results or of speeches at prize distributions. Events have 
fully justified the statement in the Beport of the Board of Educa- 
tion for 1915-191G that : 

The war is giving new impetus and vigor to many movements for national 
reform and is enabling them to gain an amount of support which under normal 
conditions could only have been won after many years of slow progress; and 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 7 

one of the most significant manifestations of its influence is the great develop- 
ment of public interest in education. 

Public sentiment was aroused to the recognition that " a pro- 
gressive improvement and development of public education is more 
than ever essential to the national welfare." The most hopeful sign, 
of the present movement is that it is fundamentally a movement of 
the people. Without disparaging the efforts of the numerous pro- 
fessional bodies and other associations, it is not too much to claim 
that the representatives of labor and the Workers' Educational 
Association have played the most important part in stimulating pub- 
lic opinion, which only three months before the outbreak of the war 
received with very little interest the announcement of the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer that plans were being prepared for " a comprehen- 
sive and progressive improvement of the educational system." The 
movement is based on the profound conviction that the further 
development of democracy depends upon a more adequate education 
than has hitherto been provided. There is not associated with it 
primarily the purpose of improving the educational system to fur- 
nish better tools for economic competition at home or abroad. It is 
animated wholly by the aim of providing the best opportunities for 
equipping the individual with the physical, moral, and intellectual 
training that makes for good citizenship, that prepares for the free- 
dom and responsibilities of adult life. Less conscious, but no less 
profound, is the patriotic motive to establish a memorial to those 
who have died that democracy might live, a national tribute to their 
self-sacrifice and devotion. Speaking at the conference on new ideals 
in education, in August, 1917, Mr. Fisher emphasized this conception 
and pointed to an interesting historical parallel. He said : 

I will conclude with one reflection, which you will pardon me for making 
because I make it in my character of the historical pedant. I remember in 
old days reading the story of the foundation of the University of Leyden. The 
University of Leyden was founded in the year 1574 by the Prince of Orange 
to commemorate the triumphant issue of the great and heroic siege of Leyden, 
when, as you will remember, the gallant burghers of that starving and be- 
leaguered city managed to hold out against the overwhelming forces of Catholic 
Spain. The memorial of that heroic event was the foundation of a university, 
a university which in the course of a generation achieved for itself the renown 
of being one of the most famous centers of light and learning, the University 
of Scaliger and the University of Grotius, and I suggest to you, ladies and 
gentlemen, that our memorial of this war should be a great University of 
England, which should be the means of raising the whole population of this 
country to a higher level of learning and culture than has hitherto been 
possible. 1 

It is not claimed that what has been accomplished is either the 
most or the best that could have been achieved, but considering the 



1 Report of the Conference on New Ideals in Education, 1017, p. 13f. 



8 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-10] 9. 

conditions under which the progress has been made, and remember- 
ing the prewar attitude to education, there is little cause for criticism. 
The point that needs renewed emphasis is that public opinion in 
England has been changed and the history of the past two or three 
years furnishes a guarantee that whatever measures have been intro- 
duced to reorganize education represent but the foundations for a 
greater future. Education is but one of the many proposals con- 
tained in the broad reconstruction program, the realization of any 
one of which must necessarily and inevitably exercise a powerful 
influence on the others. What has been achieved so far is onty a 
beginning of that self-conscious democracy which is the basis of any 
progressive system of education. 

It is pertinent to review the course of English education in the 
four years between the outbreak of the war and the passing of the 
education act of 1918. The outbreak of the war found England 
wholly unprepared to meet the conditions arising out of the emer- 
gency. No provision existed for housing the new army, nor were 
there any plans for securing the large amount of civilian aid neces- 
sary to maintain the military services. A large share of the new 
burden fell upon the schools, many of which were commandeered by 
the Government for barracks or hospitals. Plans had to be impro- 
vised to take care of the dispossessed pupils at a time when numbers 
of teachers were either flocking to the colors or entering other civilian 
occupations that seemed to promise greater scope for national service 
and always carried larger remuneration than teaching. The situa- 
tion, described in the Report of the United States Commissioner of 
Education for 1916, 1 remains unchanged and is thus summarized in 
the Report of the Board of Education for 1916-17: 

The continuance of the war has inevitably imposed an increased strain upon 
the public educational service. Further calls have been made upon the admin- 
istrative and teaching staffs of local education authorities and school governing 
bodies for service in Your Majesty's forces, and an increased burden has been 
placed on those who have remained to carry on the work of the schools ; difficul- 
ties of school accommodation have been intensified, owing to shortage of labor 
and materials ; supplies of school equipment have had to be still more severely 
restricted; and in many other ways sacrifices have been required which are 
bound to react unfavorably upon the work of education. But the extent of 
these sacrifices only emphasizes the admirable spirit with which the school 
authorities, teachers, and children have cooperated to mitigate their ill effects. 

The ease with which the schools have adjusted themselves to the 
new demands and the emergency conditions, constantly becoming 
more serious because of the decreasing supply of teachers, bears ex- 
cellent testimony to the flexibility of the system and the initiative of 
the local authorities. The educational loss, except for those pupils 

i Vol. I, pp. 552ff. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 9 

who by a misguided policy were released from school as early as the 
age of 11, has not been very great. Double sessions were introduced 
where the dislocation caused by the military occupation of schools was 
severe; nonessentials were eliminated from the curriculum; more or- 
ganized games and plays under suitable supervision were added; and 
wherever opportunity permitted, classroom work was replaced by 
visits to museums, art galleries, and the country. Indeed, the read- 
justments may prove in the future to have been beneficial, if only 
because they have succeeded in breaking down some of the academic 
and bookish formalism in the schools. 

But even if the pupils had wholly missed any part of the tradi- 
tional curriculum, such a loss has been more than compensated for by 
their participation in national activities and by a quickened sense of 
patriotism resulting from their sacrifices in the common cause. The 
Report of the Board of Education, in giving emphasis to this aspect 
of the school progress in 101G-17, states that: 

The year lias been noteworthy for its demonstration of the advantages which 
can he derived from enlisting the cooperation of the educational institutions 
of the country in the promotion of various national movements. 

Not only have the pupils been stimulated by the part played in the- 
war by alumni, or by their appearance in the school, but also by prac- 
tical work that supplied some of the war needs. The boys, for exam- 
ple, have made splints, crutches, bed boards and rests, screens, rollers, 
and trays ; the girls have knitted socks, mufflers, and gloves ; both have 
cooperated in making up and sending parcels for soldiers and prison- 
ers, and even in preparing sandbags and candles for the trenches. 
More significant even than this work done in the schools and by the 
pupils is the new position assumed by the schools as community 
centers. The schools have been found useful and convenient centers 
for distributing public notices, disseminating information on food 
conservation and war recipes, the promotion of thrift campaigns, and 
the sale of war loans. The Board of Education's Report cites a num- 
ber of instances of the successful w T ar-savings campaigns conducted 
by schools. One school of 1,400 pupils in three months purchased war 
certificates to the value of $2,925; another with 500 pupils joined the 
War-Saving Association and bought certificates to the value of $1,170 ; 
and still another with 400 pupils invested $7,785. Out of 35,000 war- 
savings associations in existence at the end of June. 1917, about one- 
third were connected with elementary schools. In promoting food 
economy the lessons imparted to the children have not been lost on 
the parents, especially when these lessons were practically demon- 
strated in the domestic economy classes ; in some instances such classes 
were also conducted for parents and adults, and exhibitions have been 
held in cookery and housecraft. Not only have the schools proved to 
be effective agencies in inculcating the new economy in the matter of 



10 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

food, but they have participated in no small degree in increasing the 
supply. School gardens and vacant lots have been developed in 
constantly increasing areas. 

In the County of Durham the area of school gardens has increased by 40 acres, 
in Hertfordshire by 27, in Buckinghamshire and Lancashire by 16 and 10, 
respectively. The largest number of new school gardens known to have been 
worked during the year were 349 in the West Riding, 200 in Durham, 14.j in 
Buckinghamshire, and 102 in Northumberland. The development of gardening 
in certain towns, where the conditions of climate and soil are often unfavorable, 
is equally striking; 26 of the 32 schools in Birkenhead now have gardens; and 
all the schools at Ilkeston and Kendal have taken up land ; so have 11 out of 
the 14 public elementary schools at Southend, and 9 of the 11 at Winchester. 
More than half the schools in the county boroughs of Leicester and Nottingham 
have started gardens during the year ; Manchester has IS school gardens, Shef- 
field and Tottenham have each 12, while London has about 100 gardens with 3 
acres of land in all. 

In addition, older pupils in elementary and secondary schools have 
assisted with the harvests and in fruit-picking, and in the collection 
of horse-chestnuts for certain industrial processes conducted by the 
ministry of munitions. 

The credit for this "quickened consciousness of personal and national 
ties, the keener sense of common sacrifice and common duty,'' is in no 
small part due to the teachers, who have risen in a remarkable manner 
to the great task of national service. More than 25,000 of the teachers 
joined the colors, and of these some 2,000 have already made tho 
supreme sacrifice. Positions that were left vacant were filled in part 
by married women and teachers already retired from service. With 
an inadequate supply and the constant drain to other occupations 
where the desire for what appears to be more immediate service is 
satisfied and increased remuneration is offered, the burden made in- 
creasing demands on the energy and devotion of those who remained. 
By their service in and out of the schools teachers have assured them- 
selves a position in the life of the nation that they have never enjoyed 
before. 

When peace is restored the teachers of England need have no fear if any- 
one asks them what they did in the war. They offered themselves freely, and, 
whether they stayed in the schools or carried arms, they did their duty, and 
the service of education is richer for their own practice and exemplification of 
those principles of civic duty and patriotism which in times of peace they 
taught, and not in vain, by precept and exhortation. 1 

The repute and status achieved by the teaching profession will 
react both upon the general belief in education and on the efficiency 
of the public system of education. In concrete practice the awakening 
of the national conscience to the inadequate remuneration of teachers 
and the poor outlook offered to teaching as a career was slow to 

1 Board of Education, Report for 1914-15, p. 4. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 11 

manifest itself until the rising cost of living and the prospects in 
other occupations demanded drastic measures. Local action, dilatory; 
at first, was stimulated by state grants, and the reports of the de- 
partmental committees for inquiring into the principles which should 
determine the construction of scales of salaries for teachers in both 
elementary, secondary and technical schools promise a new era and 
open up brighter prospects for the profession. 1 It is not without 
significance that the appearance of the first volume of the New 
Register of teachers issued by the Teachers' Registration Council, 
one of whose main purposes is to build up a unified national teaching 
profession with well-organized training, qualifications, and standards, 
should have coincided with the beginnings of this new movement. 

Important as the developments in education have been during the 
past few years, and however bright the promise for the future, the 
war has had its bad effects, all of which were noted in the Report 
of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1916, pages 
554 to 500. Conditions have remained practically unchanged in 
the matter of the military occupation of buildings both for elemen- 
tary and secondary school purposes. The call on teachers for mili- 
tary service has also remained approximately the same. Owing to 
the suspension of the collection of statistics by the Board of Educa- 
tion, exact figures can not be given as to the number of children of 
school age absent from school for employment in agriculture and 
industry. The probability is that the number has been considerably 
reduced for a number of reasons: The Board of Education has 
strongly opposed the early withdrawal of children from school, and 
remonstrated against the abuse of the school attendance laws; the 
boards of trade and of agriculture have taken steps to meet the short- 
age of labor; wide publicity was given to the subject both before and 
during the consideration in Parliament of the Fisher bill, which 
aimed to raise the age of school attendance to 11 without any ex- 
emption. But the evil effects of the early release of some 600,000 
children from school in the first three years of the war, some perma- 
nently, under the plea of war emergency, may onty be realized in 
the future, for the new act is not retroactive, and many children 
will never again come under formal educative influences of any kind. 
The alarm aroused in 1916 by the great increase of juvenile delin- 
quency during the war had the salutary effect of turning public at- 
tention to the problem. Whether the number of juvenile offenses 
has decreased or not, it is impossible to say, but the remedial and 
preventive measures have been increased. Wide publicity was given, 
for example, to the report of an unofficial cinema commission ap- 
pointed by the National Council of Public Morals at the instance of 

» Sec pp. 57 ff. 



12 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

a number of firms interested in the cinematograph or moving- 
picture business. 1 The report deals with the physical, mental, and 
moral effects of the moving-picture and recommends that: 

For its own protection, as well as for the insuring of its continued suitability 
to the Nation, the cinema should have the support and the official countenance 
of the State. We want to place it in a position of real dignity. We want it to 
be something more than a trade ; in fact, we wish it to be one of the assets of 
our national entertainment and recreation. We are anxious that the cinema 
should be beyond all suspicion in the mind of the average member of the public. 

To attain these objects the commission urges the establishment of a 
State censorship, but admits that much progress has been made within 
the trade for the improvement of films. The Board of Education, 
recognizing that much of the delinquency among school children is 
due to lack of parental control and discipline in cases where the adult 
male relatives may be at the front and the mothers engaged on war 
work, has taken steps to encourage the development of evening play 
and recreation centers for public elementary school children, along 
the lines successfully inaugurated in London by Mrs. Humphry 
Ward, by offering to pay a grant equal to 50 per cent of the cost of 
maintenance of such centers incurred either by the local authorities 
or by the voluntary agencies. During the session ending July 31, 
1917, 71 such centers had been recognized for purposes of the grant. 
For older children who have already left school the Board of Edu- 
cation has. at the request of the Home Office, issued a circular urging 
upon local education authorities — 

the importance of getting into close touch with boys' and girls' clubs and brigades 
and similar organizations concerned with the welfare of children, and suggesting 
that they might offer to place schoolrooms at the disposal of such bodies in 
order to enable them to extend the icope of their work. 

The Home Office also appointed a juvenile organizations committee 
to consider — 

1. What steps can be taken to attract boys and girls to become members of 

brigades and clubs. 

2. The possibility of transferring a boy or girl from one organization to 

another when this seems desirable. 

3. The steps to be taken to prevent overlapping of work. 

4. The strengthening of weaker units. 

5. The difficulty of obtaining officers. 

6. Difficulties in securing the use of school premises as clubrooms or play 

centers, and other matters relating to the effectiveness of brigades and 
clubs. 

Another aspect of the problem was considered and a report issued 
by the departmental committee on juvenile education in relation to 
employment after the war, while considerable activity has been mani- 

1 Report of the Cinema Commission. London, Williams & Norgate, 1917. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 13 

fcstecl by a number of local education authorities in establishing or 
reorganizing juvenile employment bureaus under the education 
(choice of employment) act of 1910. Here again public sentiment 
has been prepared by a revelation of the urgent need of some meas- 
ures to safeguard the physical, moral, and intellectual welfare of 
adolescents and to accept the inclusion in the new act of the compul- 
sory continuation school and the extra-curricular activities recom- 
mended in connection therewith. 

In the absence of statistical reports it is impossible to measure the 
effect of the war on educational expenditures accurately. There was 
undoubtedly a tendency toward retrenchment in the first few months 
of the war, just as there was to a laxer administration of attendance 
laws, a weakening of discipline, and the premature release of children 
for wage-earning occupations. In 1916 the committee on retrench- 
ment in the public expenditure stated in its report that: 

There is a special difficulty in economizing on educational expenditure, as 
there is a feeling in many quarters that educational economies are dangerous 
and may in the long run he unremunerative. But, nevertheless, we are strongly 
of the opinion that every step should be taken to effect such reductions as are 
possible without a material loss of educational efficiency, and we are glad to 
learn that many education authorities have already taken steps accordingly by 
postponing or reducing capital expenditure on new buildings or alterations 
(which might normally amount to as much as £3,000,000 a year) and expenditure 
on decorations, repairs, furniture, apparatus, stationery, etc. Similar steps 
should, in our opinion, be taken by all authorities without delay. 

The committee's recommendation that children under 5 should be 
excluded from school, and that the age of entrance should be raised 



to 0, does not appear to have been effectual, since during the war more 
than ever before mothers who were compelled to enter some form of 
employment needed some place in which to leave their young children. 
The Board of Education and many local authorities suspended much 
of the clerical and statistical work, reduced the amount of inspection, 
and, wherever possible, prevented overlapping of functions between 
the central and local bodies. But with the best intentions it was 
inevitable that the cost of education should increase, owing to the 
necessity of increasing salaries partly to cope with the increased cost 
of living and partly to keep teachers within the profession. Evening 
schools and classes were closed, but the amount saved here was offset 
by the increased attendance in secondary schools and educational 
activities called for in connection with the war. For the present 
there are available only the figures showing the expenditure of the 
national treasury. These indicate a constant but unequal rise, and 
it may be safely concluded that the local authorities spent at least as 
much again on education. 



14 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

National educational estimates in England and Wales. 1 



Board of Education 

Scientific investigation 

Department of scientific and 
industrial research 

I' ni versities and colleges, Great 
Britain, and intermediate 
education, Wales 

Universities and colleges, spe- 
cial grants 



1914-15 



$72,551,555 

489, 540 



Total. 



1,571,500 



$73,053,105 
503, 485 



1, 574, 000 



74,1321,595 



75,730,590 



1915-16 



177, 406, 890 
577, 910 

125,000 



1,581,000 

725, 000 



80,415.800 



1916-17 



875,943,660 
508,355 



200,000 



1,606,000 



78,258,015 



1917-18 



$95,078,900 
500, 030 

5, 190, 250 



1,606,000 



191S-19 



596.033,525 

271,205 



150,000 



102,375,180 98,804,980 



"• Based on the Statesman's Yearbook. Estimates have been chosen because they afford a better basis 
of comparison up to date than the incomplete reports of expenditures. 
- Actual grants at the end of the year. 

It will be noticed that the expenditures show a tendency to in- 
crease. The drop in 1916-17 was due to certain retrenchments in the. 
administration of the Board of Education office, to the closing of 
some training colleges, to the reduction of evening schools and classes, 
to the decrease in the number of children receiving free meals, and 
to the suspension of the special grant to universities and colleges. 
The striking rise in the estimates for 1917-18 was due mainly to the 
addition of about $18,000,000 to the grants to be devoted primarily to 
the increase of teachers' salaries throughout the country. It is also 
partly accounted for by the extraordinary grant-in-aid of about 
$5,000,000 to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 
which was not renewed in the estimates for 1918-19 and accounts for 
the decrease for that j^ear. The finances here discussed do not as 
yet show the effect of the act passed in August, 1918, which may in 
time more than double the share of educational expenditure borne 
by the national treasury. Some of the new burdens assumed since 
the outbreak of the war, but as yet not exerting much influence, are 
as follows: Half the cost of maintaining adequate schemes for medi- 
cal treatment ; half the cost of evening play centers, schools for 
mothers, and nursery schools; half the cost of salaries for trained 
organizers and supervisors of physical training and games; increased 
grants to secondary schools for general purposes and for approved 
advanced courses; the increased cost of pensions to teachers already 
retired, which were raised in 1918 by almost 50 per cent; and the pay- 
ment of the pensions granted under the superannuation act, 1918. 
The directions of future increase in the national expenditure for 
education are indicated by the promise of the new act. The Board 
of Education will pay grants equal to half of the local expenditure, 
which will show a rapid rise in numerous directions — the further ex- 
pansion of medical inspection and treatment, the introduction of ad- 
vanced work in elementary schools, increased provisions for secondary 
schools and higher education, the establishment of continuation schools, 
increased extra-curricular activities in connection with all types of 



EDUCATION IN GEEAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 15 

schools, and the adoption of new scales of salaries for teachers based 
on a minimum considerably higher than that which prevailed before 
the war, and a maximum from 50 per cent to 100 per cent higher 
than the present and within the reasonable reach of most teachers. 
Consideration has not yet been given to the extension of technical 
education, the improvement of the training of teachers, and the in- 
creasing needs of the universities. Mr. Lloyd George at least inti- 
mated to a deputation representing the interests of the University of 
Wales that the treasury would consider an increase of State aid to 
universities. 

The vast and unproductive expenditure demanded for the conduct 
of the war has awakened the country to a realization of its tremen- 
dous financial strength. The solidarity essential to the war has 
developed a National and State consciousness that has perhaps lain 
dormant hitherto. The revelation of the extent of her social defects 
has turned the attention of the nation to the desirability of dedicating 
the financial strength of the State to the task of reconstruction. 
After the war England is likely to present to the world an example 
of a nation that fosters, encourages, and subsidizes local development 
in all directions without interfering with the initiative and variety 
of experimentation that are of the very essence of progress in a democ- 
racy. Standards will, of course, be maintained, but only the minimum 
will be insisted upon by the State ; uniformity will no doubt bo 
required in carrying out the minimum standards, but for the rest 
local authorities and private bodies will be allowed free scope for 
development. Nothing that has occurred during the war has shaken 
the English faith in the principle of freedom in local government ; 
but the war has had the effect of arousing that sense of responsibility 
and the social conscience that are the corollaries of freedom. No 
better illustration of this can be found than the history of the Fisher 
bill, which began its career in Parliament in August, 1917. 

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS. 1 

In an admirable report, which like its predecessors may well serve 
as a model of what a public educational report should be, the chief 
medical officer of the Board of Education presents an account of 
the progress of the school medical service during 1916, and continues 
to emphasize the importance of this work, not merely for the physical 
and intellectual welfare of the children concerned, but as the founda- 
tion for social progress. While the war has interfered in no small 
degree with the complete working of medical inspection and treat- 
ment, it has had the effect of emphasizing the importance of the child 
as a national asset. 

1 Annual Report for 1916 of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education. (Cd. 
ST40J London, 1917. 



16 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

The future and strength of the nation unquestionably depend upon the 
vitality of the child, upon his health and development, and upon his education 
and equipment for citizenship. Great and far-reaching issues have their 
origin and some of their inspiration in him. Yet in a certain though narrow 
sense everything depends upon his physique. If that be sound, we have the rock 
upon which a nation and a race may be built ; if that be impaired, we lack 
that foundation and build on the sand. It would be difficult to overestimate the 
volume of national inefficiency, of unfitness and suffering, of unnecessary ex- 
penditure, and of industrial unrest and unemployability to which this country 
consents because of its relative failure to rear and to educate a healthy, virile, 
and well-equipped race of children and young people. There is no investment 
comparable to this, no national economy so fundamental ; there is also no waste 
so irretrievable as that of a nation which is careless of its rising generation. 
And the goal is not an industrial machine, a technical workman, a " hand," 
available merely for the increase of material output, and the acquisition of a 
wage at the earliest moment, but a human personality, well grown and ready 
in body and mind, able to work, able to play, a good citizen, the healthy parent 
of a future generation. If these things be true, as I believe they are, no re- 
construction of the State can wisely ignore the claims of the child. 

The national belief in the value of school medical inspection and 
treatment is best indicated by the efforts to maintain them in spite, 
of the inroads made by the war emergency on the supply of doctors 
and nurses. The result of an experience of less than 10 years since 
the system was established as part of the school system is summarized 
in the following statements: 

To-day hundreds of thousands of children are healthier, better, and brighter 
for its labors. In large towns and small country villages there has arisen 
something of a new understanding of the child. He is coming steadily into his 
kingdom, into his individual birthright of health and well-being. Even in time 
of war, when the preoccupation and exigencies of the military situation have 
made exceptional demands upon the staff of persons, officials or voluntary, 
who have devoted themselves hitherto to the welfare of the child, the claims of 
the school medical service have been sufficiently valid and obvious to secure 
the maintenance of an irreducible minimum of its working. 

So great is the value attached to school medical inspection that 
its extension voluntarily to secondary schools has been encouraged 
in recent years and has been assured by the new act both for secondary 
and continuation schools. 

The full operation of the act and regulations bearing on medical 
inspection requires four inspections of children — at entrance, in the 
third and the sixth year of school life, and at the time of leaving 
school. Owing to the curtailment resulting from the war, provision 
was made in 1915 and 1916 only for the inspection and treatment of 
children who appeared to be ailing and for the maintenance of any 
treatment already undertaken. Of the 5,306,411 children in average 
attendance, 1,446,448 were medically examined in 1916, instead of 
the two millions who would normally have received attention. In 
spite of this decrease the total expenditure on the school medical 
service amounted to $2,089,350, an increase of 28 per cent over the 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 17 

expenditure for 1913-14. Approximately half of the cost was met 
by grants from the central authority. The scope of the work is in- 
dicated in the employment of 772 school medical officers and assist- 
ants and 441 medical officers employed on such special work as 
ophthalmic surgery, aural surgery, dental surgery, X-ray work, 
and administration of anesthetics. The medical officers were assisted 
by 1,527 school nurses, and in a number of areas arrangements were 
made with local nursing associations for the services of their nurses. 
Since the work was limited to ailing children, the burden of dis- 
covering children who appeared to need medical attention fell upon 
the teachers, who have always cooperated heartily in the work since 
its establishment, and in a number of areas memoranda were issued 
by the school medical officers for their guidance. The following 
outline, drawn up by Dr. J. T. C. Nash, of Norfolk, should be of serv- 
ice to teachers interested in school hygiene: 

Routine school medical inspection being in abeyance, the following notes have 
been drawn up by the school medical officer to guide teachers in detecting some 
defects, which should secure amelioration. The attention of the local care com- 
mittee should be called to any cases discovered, so that they may be " followed 
up " ; particulars should also be sent to this office : 

I. Defective eyesight may be suspected when a child — 

(1) In a back row can not read what is written on the blackboard. 

(2) Can not tell the time by the clock at a little distance. 

(3) Fails to keep to the lines when writing. 

(4) Misses small words when reading. * 

(5) Habitually holds a book nearer to the eyes than 12 inches when 

reading. 

(6) Complains that the letters run into one another. 

(7) Squints, even if only occasionally. 

(8) Complains of tiredness of the eyes or of frontal headache after 

reading or sewing. 
II. Defective hearing is often pr< sent when a child — 

(1) Is a mouth breather. 

(2) Has a "running" ear. 

(3) Looks stupid and does not answer questions addressed in an 

ordinary voice, though otherwise intelligent. 

Such a child should be tested for deafness by a forced 
whisper, beginning at 20 feet and gradually lessening the dis- 
tance until the " forced whisper " is heard. Report the distance 
at which this is heard. 

III. Inflammation of the eyelids, with scabs or discharge from the eyes, 

should receive attention from a doctor. 

IV. Earache. This should always receive attention from a doctor. 

V. Gumboils. These should receive attention from a qualified dentist. 
VI. Enlarged tonsils and adenoids may be suspected when a child — 

(1) Is stated to snore or breathes noisily during sleep or when eating. 

(2) Is a mouth breather — open mouth. 

(3) Is frequently troubled with nasal discharge. 

(4) Becomes deaf when it has a cold. 
10G406 — 19 2 



18 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

VII. Loss of flesh and frequent cough should receive attention from a doctor. 
These symptoms may be due to many different causes and are by no 
means peculiar to consumption. 
VIII. Heart disease should be suspected if a child— 

(1) Is always pale. 

(2) Has palpitation and shortness of breath on exertion. 

(3) Is blue in the face. 

IX. Rheumatism. Children who often have sore throats and " growing pains " 
should be suspected of rheumatism. They require to see a doctor. 

An important conclusion that has resulted from the experience of 
the last 10 years is the emphasis "on the fact that the problem of 
school attendance is, in the main, a medical problem." Since the 
teachers and school attendance officers have cooperated closely with 
the medical service, the number of absences from school for causes 
other than medical has decreased, while the average percentage of 
school attendance has increased. This situation has necessitated the 
development of a new type of attendance officer and the suggestion is 
put forward that " the most suitable visitor to send to the home of a 
child absent from school on alleged medical grounds is a woman 
health officer," who would be in a better position than an attendance 
officer to discover the nature of the ailment and to advise the parents. 
In the Borough of Taunton, where no men attendance officers have 
been employed for the past five years, there was an increase in the 
percentage of average attendance, and a decrease in the number of ab- 
sences on grounds other than medical and in the frequency of prose- 
cutions. 

Not the least valuable part of the work of the school medical serv- 
ices has been the number of special inquiries, which were begun in 
1909 and of which 350 have been made. These, as their titles indi- 
cate, are of great practical value not merely for the medical service 
itself but also for teachers and principals of schools. Many studies 
conducted in this country by the departments of school administra- 
tion have been undertaken in England by the school medical officers. 
The only studies in England on retardation, for example, have re- 
sulted from such inquiries. 1 

Although the school medical inspection has necessarily been cur- 
tailed, the provision of medical treatment showed some progress even 
during the war. Of the 319 local education authorities, 219 had 
established 480 school clinics, all of which are extensively used. The 
more progressive authorities, like Birmingham, Bradford, and Shef- 
field, have provided comprehensive schemes with clinics available for 
medical inspection, and the treatment of minor ailments, teeth, skin, 
and X-ray operations, eyes, ears, and tuberculosis. A number of 
authorities cooperate with hospitals either as a supplement to or as a 

1 The study of this subject by the director of education of Blackpool came to the 
author's attention after this was written. 



EDUCATION" IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 19 

substitute for school clinics. Considering the immense importance 
of medical treatment in the scheme of a school medical service, it was 
found that the provision was still inadequate, and in 1017 the main- 
tenance of an adequate system of medical treatment was made one of 
the conditions of the grant paid by the Board of Education. Accord- 
ing to the latest regulations the standards of an efficient scheme of 
school medical service, on the basis of which a grant will be paid at 
the rate of one-half of the expenditure, are as follows : Arrangements 
must be made for the medical inspection of the four groups referred 
to above, for following up cases of defect and securing medical 
treatment where necessary, for coordinating the work of the school 
medical service with the work of the local public health service, and 
for rendering the school medical service an integral part of the sys- 
tem of elementary education. The whole tenor of the report is to 
emphasize the preventive aspect both of medical inspection and of 
medical treatment. 

To provide spectacles, to excise adenoids, to cleanse verminous children, to 
extract decayed teeth is good but not the best. It is part but not the' whole. 
It is palliative but not preventive. It is imperative in the time of recon- 
struction lying before us that we should turn off the tap as well as remove the 
flood, that we should stop the production of disease and prevent what is pre- 
ventable. 

The national value of the medical service which is now in its tenth 
year of operation is shown by the improved health of the older chil- 
dren. " It is significant," says the report, " that while the health and 
personal condition of entrants shows little or no betterment, that of 
8-year-old and leaving children shows a steady improvement " in 
clothing, nutrition, and cleanliness of head and body. Fortunately 
there has been a continuance of good health during the period of the 
Avar as a result of the improved economic conditions; there have been 
fewer cases of malnutrition and insufficient clothing than in previous 
years. But that the situation is not yet one for congratulation may 
be gathered from the fact that : 

The records of its findings (of the school medical service) show a large 
amount of ill-health, of bodily impairment, and of physical and mental defect 
* * *. Of the children in attendance at school (six millions) we know 
by medical inspection that many, though not specifically " feeble-minded," are 
so dull and backward mentally as to be unable to benefit from schooling, that 
upward of 10 per cent of the whole are at a like disability on account of un- 
cleanliness, and that 10 per cent also are malnourished. Then we come to 
disease. Perhaps the largest contributor is dental disease, which handicaps 
children almost as seriously as it does adolescents and adults. Probably not 
less than half the children are in need of dental treatment, and a substantial 
number (not less than half a million) are urgently so. Again, upward of half 
a million children are so defective in eyesight as to be unable to take ad- 
vantage of their lessons. Many of them need spectacles, some ophthalmic treat- 
ment, others special " myopic classes," and all of them careful supervision and 



20 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

attention. Next we must add diseases of the ear, throat, and lymphatic glands 
involving another quarter of a million in a relatively serious condition. Then 
there come skin diseases, disorders of the heart, infectious disease, and tuber- 
culosis. 

The recognition of these facts, serious though they are, represents 
the awakening of a national conscience, which " finds its origin partly 
in the fuller appreciation of the importance of saving life, and partly 
in a larger understanding of the necessity of preserving and equipping 
the life we have." 

How extensive the ramifications of a national system of school 
medical service are is indicated by the attention given in the report 
to all those agencies and activities essential to its successful operation. 
Extensive as the list of these agencies is, it can be supplemented by 
welfare supervisors, probation officers, children's care committees, 
juvenile employment committees, scoutmasters, leaders of boys 1 and 
girls' clubs and brigades, to whom only passing reference is made. 

The safeguarding and protection of early child life may be pro- 
moted -by the training of mothers in prenatal and infant care and 
management, the foundations for which may be laid in lessons in 
mothercraft to the older girls in the elementary schools. Under regu- 
lations of the Board of Education, issued in September, 1918, grants 
will be made to efficient schools for mothers at the rate of one-half of 
the approved expenditure. Day nurseries, creches, and nursery 
schools are important cooperative factors in preserving the health of 
young children in the preschool period, particularly in crowded urban 
and industrial districts. Their importance has been recognized by 
the payment of grants-in-aid up to 50 per cent of the cost of main- 
tenance by the Board of Education and more recently in the act by 
the incorporation of nursery schools in the national system of educa- 
tion. " The purpose of nursery schools is not to teach the three R's, 
but by sleep, food, and play to provide the opportunity for little 
children to lay the foundations of health, habit, and a responsive 
personality." For the children of elementary school age medical 
inspection and treatment must, in the words of the report, be sup- 
plemented by — 

(a) the feeding of the child, by the parent or under the education (provision of 
meals) act, or otherwise; (b) the supply of fresh air for the child by means of 
open-air schools, playground classes, or adequately ventilated schoolrooms ; 
(c) the exercise of the child's body by the adoption of an effective system of 
physical training; (d) the warmth and protection of the child, by requiring that 
it shall be sent to school properly clothed and that the schoolroom is sufficiently 
heated; and (c) the maintenance of the cleanliness of the child, by insuring 
that dirty and verminous children do not contaminate clean children at school, 
and that for the school itself bath and lavatory accommodation is available. 

All of these agencies are now more or less adequately provided. 
A significant fact refuting the fears that the public provision of meals 



EDUCATION" IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 21 

would pauperize the parents is the decrease in the number of children 
receiving free meals from 422,401 in 1914-15, a large figure due to the 
industrial disorganization consequent on the outbreak of the war, 
to 117,901 in 1915-16 and 03,939 in 1916-17. Open-air schools are 
supplemented by classes conducted in playgrounds, parks, and open 
spaces, by school journeys, holiday and night camps, and open-air 
classrooms. The war has had a special influence in drawing atten- 
tion to the value of life in the open air, and its extension is to be pro- 
moted and encouraged under the new act. To stimulate the further 
development of physical training, play, and games, the board in 1917 
undertook to meet half the cost of the salaries of trained organizers 
and supervisors of these subjects and half the cost of maintaining 
evening play and recreation centers for children and young persons. 
Finally, to insure cleanliness, many schools are providing for school 
baths and showers in new buildings — an addition that is inexpensive 
The twofold aim of the school medical service — to enable the child 
through improved physique to benefit from instruction in school and 
to lay the foundations for the physical well-being of the nation — finds 
expression throughout the report. One of the most serious menaces 
to the success of this work is found in the engagement of children 
on leaving school in employments dangerous to their health. For this 
reason emphasis is placed on the medical inspection of children imme- 
diately before leaving school on the basis of which advice can be given 
on the choice of employment. 

The physical injury (of a wrong choice) which manifests itself is insidious 
and inconspicuous but far-reaching. Malnutrition, anemia, fatigue, spinal cur- 
vature, and strain of heart or nervous system are conditions the discovery of 
which generally calls for clinical investigation and careful inquiry. They do 
not catch the eye or arrest the attention of the casual observer. But they are 
profoundly important for two reasons ; they lay the foundations of disease, and 
they undermine the physiological growth of the child at a critical juncture in 
life. * * * It is the conditions rather than the character of employment 
which tend to injure the child. 

Such conditions will no doubt be improved by the restriction im- 
posed on child labor by the new act and the extension of the medical 
service to embrace pupils in secondary and continuation schools. The 
last provision closes the gap which existed hitherto between the medi- 
cal inspection of children in the elementary school and the protection 
of wage earners under the National Health Insurance Act. 

As soon as normal conditions are again restored, England will have 
established the broadest and most far-reaching system of health super- 
vision, one that will affect every member of the population. Begin- 
ning with the maternity centers and unifying all the agencies both 
public and private for the promotion of health through childhood, 
adolescence, and beyond, the system will not only give every child 
a better chance of surviving but will through improved measures pro- 



22 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

mote the physical and thereby the intellectual and spiritual well-being 
of the nation. The next few years will not only see the extension of 
the program in the schools but the application of the lessons of the 
war to industry. New light has been thrown on the relations between 
health and economic production that will prove as significant and far- 
reaching as the experience of the school medical service during the 
ppst 10 years. 

In this county, where only a beginning has been made with the 
medical inspection and treatment of school children, parents, teachers, 
medical profession, and organizations for social service can have no 
better lesson brought to their attention than England's example. For 
those interested in establishing national standards of health there can 
be no more profitable subject for study than the irreducible minimum 
of a school medical service presented in the report here discussed : 

(I) That every child shall periodically come under direct medical and dental 
supervision, and if found defective shall he " followed up." 
(II) That every child found malnourished shall, somehow or other, he 
nourished, and every child found verminous shall, somehow or other, 
be cleansed. 
(Ill) That for every sick, diseased, or defective child, skilled medical treatment 
shall be made available, either by the local education authority or 
otherwise. 
(IV) That every child shall be educated in a well-ventilated schoolroom or 
elassrom, or in some form of open air schoolroom or classroom. 
(V) That every child shall have, daily, organized physical exercise of appro- 
priate character. 
(VI) That no child of school age shall be employed for profit except under 
approved conditions. 
(VII) That the school environment and the means of education shall be such as 
can in no case exert unfavorable or injurious influences upon tho 
health, growth, and development of the child. 

EDUCATION OF WORKING BOYS AND GIRLS. 

The departmental committee on juvenile education in relation to 
employment after the war was appointed by Mr. Arthur Henderson, 
then president of the Board of Education, in April, 191G — 

To consider what steps should be taken to make provision for the education and 
instruction of children and young persons after the war, regard being had 
particularly to the interests of those (1) whohave been abnormally employed 
during the war; (2) who can not immediately find advantageous employ- 
ment; (3) who require special training for employment. 

The committee of 16 members, representing educational adminis- 
tration, social workers, and the teaching profession, met under the 
chairmanship of the Right Hon. J. Herbert Lewis, and issued its 
report, generally known as the Lewis Report * in March, 1917. The 

1 Pinal Report of the Departmental Committee on Juvenile Education in Relation to Em- 
ployment after the War. 2 vols. Cd. 8512 and Cd. 8577. (London, 1917.) 



EDUCATION" IIST GREAT BRITAIN AXD IRELAND. 23 

committee took the. evidence of a large number of representatives of 
industry and commerce, labor and education. 

The committee recognized that their problem was really " the 
standing problem of the adolescent wage earners," similar to that 
which the consultative committee had considered and upon which a 
report upon attendance at continuation schools had been issued in 
1909. On the basis of statistics for 1911 it was found that, of 650,000 
children between 12 and 13 enrolled in public full-time day schools 
(elementary, secondary, junior, and technical), only 13 per cent are 
likely to have a full-time education after the age of 14, and that this 
number would dwindle to less than 1 per cent between the ages of 17 
and 18. Of about 2,700,000 young persons between the ages of 11 and 
18 in 1911-12 about 81.5 per cent were not attending any kind of 
school, and of the remainder very few completed the annual courses 
for which they registered in evening schools. The decline of appren- 
ticeship, the development of a large number of initially attractive 
but ultimately blind-alley occupations, the increased industrial op- 
portunities created for young persons by the war demands, together 
with high wages and relaxed discipline and control, all combined to 
bring about a serious situation for the country, which would be inten- 
sified by the inevitable dislocation of industries at the close of the 
war. The solution of the problem demanded a new outlook. 

(';m the age of adolescence be brought out of the purview of economic ex- 
ploitation and into that of the social conscience? Can the conception of the 
juvenile as primarily a little wage earner be replaced by the conception of the 
juvenile as primarily the workman and the citizen in training:? Can it be 
established that the educational purpose is to be the dominating one, without 
as well within the school doors, during those formative years betweeu 12 
and 18? 

The committee strongly urged the raising of the elementary school 
age to 14 without any exemptions whatever and compulsory attend- 
ance at a day continuation school between the ages of 14 and 18 for 8 
hours a week for 40 weeks in the year. Broken terms both on enter- 
ing and leaving school should be avoided by having definite times in 
the year for each. Criticizing the work of the elementary schools, 
the committee found that too frequently pupils in upper grades were 
merely marking time, and recommended the introduction of more 
practical education in place of the prevalent bookish type. " No 
child should feel on leaving school that he has attained to the fully 
independent status of wage-earning manhood." In defining the 
scope of the work to be offered in a continuation school the committee 
urged the postponement of specialization to the last two years 
(1G to 18), the first two years (14 to 16) being general in character. 



24 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

We do not regard the object of establishing continuation classes as being 
merely an industrial one. The industries stand to benefit amply enough, both 
directly through the beginnings of technical instruction and indirectly through 
the effect of education upon the character and the general efficiency of those 
who come within its influence. But we are clear that the business of the 
classes is to do what they can in making a reasonable human being and a 
citizen, and that, if they do this, they will help to make a competent workman 
also. Though this is wholly true, it is also true that education must be ap- 
proached, especially at the adolescent stage, through the actual interests of 
the pupil, and that the actual interests of pupils who have just turned a corner 
in life and entered upon wage-earning employment are very largely the new 
interests which their employment has opened out to them. 

Local adaptation would accordingly be essential in both stages of 
the four-year course, with a vocational bias and a number of alterna- 
tive courses. In the second stage some emphasis might be placed 
upon technical subjects bearing on the students' special work. 

A liberal basis is still essential, and the English teaching should now tend 
toward a deliberate stimulation of the sense of citizenship * * *. Music, art, 
local history, home industries, first-aid, natural history, will all afford an oppor- 
tunity for the skillful teacher, and can be treated suitably both for boys and 
girls. 

Physical training should form part of the work of all adolescents 
for not less than one hour a Aveek. Over and above the studies the 
continuation schools should become centers for the social and physical 
activities of the adolescent boy and girl; schools should be open in 
the evenings for recreation and games, and should be available for 
clubs, debating and other societies, study circles, concerts, and other 
organizations. 

The committee did not feel that any opposition would be encoun- 
tered by its proposals; parents were beginning to realize that the 
advantage would be in favor of the child, while employers were 
recognizing their responsibilities and the value of education, and 
the suggestions were warranted by the success of experiments in 
"works" schools. Assuming that the plan could be inaugurated 
in 1921, there would be about 2,000,000 pupils between 14 and 18 
needing the service of some 32,000 teachers. The cost would *i)e 
from $35,000,000 to $45,000,000 a year, without including the cost of 
providing buildings. 

So far as young persons who had entered industrial life prema- 
turely because of the war demands for labor were concerned, the 
committee suggests the possibility of providing special courses and 
the opening of technical schools as well as for those who might be 
thrown out of employment as a result of the dislocation of industries 
that might be expected to follow the war. The committee empha- 
sized the new opportunities and responsibilities of juvenile employ- 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 25 

ment bureaus at this particular crisis. The Board of Education, 
cooperating with the Ministry of Labor, issued a circular (No. 1072) 
in November, 1918, urging local education authorities to establish 
centers for the educational supervision of young persons who might 
be thrown out of work at the cessation of hostilities. It is proposed 
that the Government unemployment grants, payable to young persons 
between 15 and 18, be made conditional on attendance at such in- 
structional centers. 

The recommendations are summarized in the report under the 
following headings : 

(1) That a uniform elementary school-leaving age of 14 be established by 
statute for all districts, urban and rural, and that all exemptions, total or 
partial, from compulsory attendance below that age be abolished. 

(2) That a child be deemed to attain the leaving age on that one of a reason- 
able number of fixed dates in the year, marking the ends of school terms, which 
falls next after the date upon which he reaches 14. 

(3) That steps be taken, by better staffing and other improvements in the 
upper classes of elementary schools, to insure the maximum benefit from the 
last years of school life. 

(4) That difficulties of poverty be met in other ways than by regarding 
poverty as a reasonable excuse for nonattendance in interpreting section 74 
of the education act of 1870. 

(5) That the factory acts be amended in accordance with the amended law 
of school attendance, and that the law of school attendance be consolidated. 

(6) That the Board of Education and the Home Office do consider the de- 
sirability of transferring the work of certifying as to the physical fitness of 
children for employment under the factory acts to the school medical officers. 

(7) That it be an obligation on the local education authority in each area 
to provide suitable continuation classes for young persons between the ages of 
14 and 18, and to submit to the Board of Education a plan for the organization 
of such a system, together with proposals for putting it into effect. 

(8) That it be an obligation upon all young persons between 14 and 18 years 
of age to attend such day continuation classes as may be prescribed for them 
by the local education authority, during a number of hours to be fixed by 
statute, which should be not less than 8 hours a week for 40 weeks in the 
year, with the exception of — 

(a) Those who are under efficient full-time instruction in some other man- 
ner. 

{b) Those who have completed a satisfactory course in a secondary school 
recognized as efficient by the Board of Education and are not less than 16. 

(c) Those who have passed the matriculation examination of a British uni- 
versity, or an equivalent examination, and are not less than 16. 

id) Those who are under part-time instruction of a kind not regarded as un- 
suitable by the Board of Education and entailing a substantially greater amount 
of study in the daytime than the amount to be required by statute. 

(9) That during the first year from the establishment of this system the 
obligation to attend classes extend to those young persons only who are under 
15, during the second year to those only who are under 16, during the third 
year to those only who are under 17, and subsequently to all those who are 
under 18. 

(10) That all classes at which attendance is compulsory be held between 
the hours of S a. in. and 7 p. m. 



26 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

(11) That it be an obligation on all employers of young persons under 13 
to give tbem the necessary facilities for attendance at the statutory continua- 
tion classes prescribed for them by the local education authority. 

(12) That where there is already a statutory limitation upon the hours of 
labor, the permitted hours of labor be reduced by the number of those required 
for the continuation classes. 

(13) That in suitable cases the young persons be liable to a penalty for 
nonattendance; and that the parent or the employer be also liable in so far 
as any act or omission on his part is the cause of failure in attendance. 

(14) That the local administration of the employment of children act of 1003 
be transferred to the local education authorities; that it be an obligation on 
every local education authority to make by-laws under the act; that the statu- 
tory provisions of the act be extended; and that the Board of Education be 
the central authority for the approval of by-laws under the act. 

(15) That the curriculum of the continuation classes include general, prac- 
tical, and technical instruction, and that provision be made for continuous 
physical training and for medical inspection, and for clinical treatment where 
necessary, up to the age of 18. 

(16) That suitable courses of training be established and adequate salaries 
be provided for teachers of continuation classes. 

(17) That the system of continuation classes come normally into operation 
on an appointed day as early as possible after the end of the war, and that the 
Board of Education have power to make deferring orders fixing later appointed 
days within a limited period, where necessary, for the whole or part of the 
area of any local education authority. 

(18) That the obligation to attend continuation classes be extended to chil- 
dren who are under 14 when the act comes into operation, although they may 
already have left the day school. 

i lit) That the attention of local education authorities be drawn to the pos- 
sibility in certain cases of providing special full-time courses for children and 
young persons who have been abnormally employed. 

(20) That in areas where maintenance allowances from public funds are 
available for the relief of unemployed young persons after the war, attendance 
at any classes that may be established for such young persons be a condition 
of relief. 

(21) That the system of juvenile employment bureaus be strengthened and 
extended before the termination of the war, and that further financial assist- 
ance be given to local education for their maintenance. 

(22) That in areas where there is probability of juvenile unemployment, 
teachers and other suitable persons explain to children and their parents the 
difficulties of obtaining work and the advantages of prolonged attendance at 
school. 

(23) That the State grants in aid of present as well as future expenditure 
on education be simplified and very substantially increased. 

The recommendations of this committee attracted widespread at- 
tention; comparison with the education act will indicate that most 
of these suggestions have been incorporated, that, indeed, the report 
of the committee furnished the general framework for the act. 



EDUCATION IX GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 27 

SECONDARY EDUCATION DURING THE WAR. 

The outstanding features in the field of secondary education are 
the increase in the number of pupils and the revived interest in the 
purposes and functions of higher education. There is perhaps no 
problem in the whole range of education that has been more minutely 
criticized and discussed than that of the place of the secondary 
school in a democrac}' and the nature of the education that it should 
provide. The increase of opportunities in which all may have their 
share is the keynote of the discussions on one side; on the other, a 
clear-cut definition of the boundary that separates general from 
specialized, technical, or vocational education is made. The demands 
that will be made in the new social order upon the trained intelli- 
gence of the citizen, whether as a member of society or as a member 
of a trade or profession or as an individual, are accepted as the 
proper measure of educational values. The unanimity with which. 
these have been accepted by specialists, officials, statesmen, and the 
average citizen may furnish food for reflection to those who are 
concerned with the task of unraveling the tangle in which secondary 
education is at present involved in this country. The experiments 
that the two great democracies on each side of the Atlantic are mak- 
ing in this common effort to promote human progress are fraught 
with profound significance. 

In striking contrast to this country, where the effect of the war 
has been to cause a reduction in the attendance at high schools, the 
increased prosperity in England has led to a considerable increase in 
the enrollment in secondary schools and an improvement in the 
length of school life. So great has been the pressure that in many 
areas schools are overcrowded, and many have a waiting list. Since 
the building of new schools has been stopped, and since a few are still 
under military occupation, overcrowding is accepted as inevitable, 
and the Board of Education has been compelled to relax the rules as 
to size of classes. At the same time the number of teachers absent on 
military service or war work has contributed to increase the difficul- 
ties, which have been met by the employment of women teachers in 
boys' schools and of such additional men as were available. " But the 
withdrawal from the schools of their younger and more vigorous mas- 
ters, and their replacement by others of lower physique, of more ad- 
vanced years, and often of inferior qualification, is an educational 
loss for which there can be no effective compensation." The schools 
have participated extensively in war work. Of the 1,056 schools on 
the board's list of efficient schools, 894 have given effective help in 
food production, in harvesting, and in producing details of munition 
plants and of hospital equipment. 



28 



BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1016-1018. 



The following table gives the statistics for secondary education 
from the last normal year preceding the war up to 1916-17 : 

Statistics of secondary education, England and IVales. 





Schools on the grant list. 


Schools not on the grant list. 


All schools. 


Year. 


Schools. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Schools. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Schools. 


Pupils. 


1913-14 


1,027 
1,047 
1,049 
1,049 


99, 225 
105, 096 
108, 354 
113,214 


88,079 
93, 788 
100, 336 
105", 644 


187,304 
198, S84 
208, 690 
218, 858 


121 
129 
129 
129 


13,618 
14, 185 


8,928 
9,253 


22,546 
23, 438 


1,14S 
1,176 


209, 850 


1914-15 


222,322 














1,178 


1 244, 599 













1 Statistics are not available since 1914-15 for the number in the schools not on the grant list. The fig- 
ures here given are based on an assumption of an increase of 10 per cent over the figures for 1914-15. 

During 1917 the Board of Education issued new regulations for 
secondary schools in England increasing the State aid to schools on 
its grant list and making provision for additional grants to schools 
developing advanced courses for students above the age of 16 who 
might be desirous of specializing in certain subjects. Separate regu- 
lations were issued for Wales, more suitable to its special conditions 
and, while maintaining the same general standards of efficiency, 
basing the grants on an age-range of pupils from 12 to 18 instead 
of 10 to 18 as in England. Grants are also made payable for the 
encouragement of experimental or pioneer work. To qualify for 
the grant, schools must, besides submitting to inspection and offering 
a certain proportion of free places to pupils entering from elementary 
schools, provide a progressive course of general education of a kind 
and amount suitable for pupils of an age-range at least as wide as 
from 12 to 17. An adequate proportion of the pupils must remain 
in school at least four years and up to and beyond the age of 16; 
these figures are subject to modification in rural areas. The grants, 
based on enrollment at the beginning of each school year, are 
increased mainly "to secure a higher standard of efficiency in the 
schools, and in particular to enable them to provide more adequate 
remuneration for the teaching staff." The consideration of the whole 
question of salaries of teachers in secondary schools was intrusted 
to a departmental committee for inquiring into the principles which 
should determine the fixing of salaries and technical schools, schools 
of art, training colleges, and other institutions for higher education. 1 

For the present no definite requirements are imposed as to qualifi- 
cations and training, except that "where the board think fit, they 
may, on consideration of the teaching staff as a whole, require that 
a certain proportion of all new appointments shall consist of persons 
who have gone through a course of training recognized by the board 

1 See pp. 6 Iff. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 29 

for the purpose." Revised regulations 1 were issued in 1915 for the 
training of teachers in secondary schools, but conditions have not 
been favorable to their enforcement. The regulations recognize 
three methods of training teachers for secondary schools: (1) The 
first, in which a training college or university training department 
assumes the whole responsibility for instruction in both theory and 
practice of education. (2) The second, in which the training college 
is responsible for instruction in theory of education and an approved 
secondary school assumes the responsibility for training in practice. 
(3) The third, in which training in both theory and practice is given 
in an approved secondary school by one or more qualified members 
of the staff. In each case no candidates may be admitted to the 
course of training of one year except after graduation from a uni- 
versity. 

For purposes of recognition as an efficient secondary school the 
board requires that the curriculum shall meet with its approval and 
" provide for due continuity of instruction in each of the subjects 
taken, and for an adequate amount of time being given to each of 
these subjects." 

The curriculum must provide instruction in the English language and litera- 
ture, at least one language other than English, geography, history, mathematics, 
science, and drawing. A curriculum including two languages other than English, 
but making no provision for instruction in Latin, will only be approved where 
the board are satisfied that the omission of Latin is for the educational advan- 
tage of the school. The instruction in science must include practical work by 
the pupils. 

The curriculum must make such provision as the board, having regard to the 
circumstances of the school, can accept as adequate for organized games, 
physical exercises, manual instruction, and singing. 

In schools for girls the curriculum must include provision for practical in- 
struction in domestic subjects, such as needlework, cookery, laundry work, 
housekeeping, and household hygiene ; and an approved course in a combination 
of these subjects may for girls over 15 years of age be substituted partially or 
wholly for science and for mathematics other than arithmetic. 

By special permission of the board, languages other than English may be 
omitted from the 'curriculum, provided that the board are satisfied that the in- 
struction in English provides special and adequate linguistic and literary train- 
ing, and that the teaching staff are qualified to give such instructon. 

At present the majority of pupils remain in school up to about the 
age of 16. There is a consensus of opinion, as will be pointed out 
later, that a course of general education consisting of the subjects 
here mentioned shall extend from about 12 to 16. In the regulations 
for 1917-18 the Board of Education recommended the development 
of advanced courses for pupils who intended to go on to the univer- 
sities and other places for higher education and research as well as 

1 Board of Education, Regulations tor the Training of Teachers for Secondary Schools. 
Cd. 8099. (London, 1915.) 



30 BIEXNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

those who planned to proceed to commerce and industry. It was 
thought that such opportunities for specialization would serve as in- 
ducements to boys and girls to remain in the secondary schools be- 
yond the age of 16. The suggestions contained in these regulations 
were subjected to criticism and are issued in their revised form in 
the regulations for 1918-19. The advanced courses will be founded 
upon the general education offered to boys and girls up to 10 and 
will consist of specialization for two years on a group of coordi- 
nated subjects along those lines in which a pupil has already shown 
ability. " In every course there must be a substantial and coherent 
body of work taken by all pupils and occupying a predominant part 
of their time, the remainder being given to some additional subjects."' 
Three groups of subjects are contemplated : " (A) Science and mathe- 
matics; (B) classics, viz, the civilization of the ancient world as em- 
bodied in the languages, literature, and history of Greece and Rome ; 
and (C) modern studies, viz, the languages, literature, and history of 
the countries of western Europe in modern and medieval times." 
The courses are further defined as follows : 

Course A should normally include work in both science and mathematics; but 
this requirement may be waived for pupils who do substantial work in the 
biological sciences if the course is otherwise suit aide and includes work reach- 
ing an adequate standard in the physical sciences. 

Course B must provide for all pupils substantial work in the language, litera- 
ture, and history, of both Greece and Rome. 

Course C must include the advanced study of one modern foreign western 
European language and literature with the relevant history, together with the 
history of England and Greater Britain. It must also include either the study 
of a second modern foreign language or work of good scope and standard in 
English language and literature. 

In all advanced courses, adequate provision must be made for the study and 
writing of English by every pupil either in connection with the main subjects 
of the course or otherwise. In other respects, full freedom is left in the choice 
and arrangement of additional subjects, so long as the syllabus for an A course 
provides for some substantial work in language, literature, or history, and that 
for a B or C course some substantial work in subjects other than language, 
literature, and history. 

English must be included in all the groups; in group A, the scien- 
tific, work must be offered in language, literature, and history; in 
groups B and C, the linguistic and literary, subjects other than these 
must be provided. The courses will not be rigidly defined ; the board 
will, for example, approve courses in ancient history from the Baby- 
lonian era to the complete organization of the Roman Empire in place 
of the history of Greece and Rome, as well as Old and Xew Testament 
history and the origins of Christianity. In the modern studies group 
it was intended originally to require the inclusion of Latin, but this 
compulsion has now been withdrawn, and at the same time English 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 31 

language and literature may be substituted for a second foreign lan- 
guage. The study of the first modern language must be carried to 
the stage where the pupil can use it as an instrument for the study of 
literature and history as well as higher linguistic training. It will 
be noticed that commercial subjects and geography are not provided 
for as separate groups; it is the intention of the board that geography 
be made an essential part of the study of history or be given as an 
additional subject, while commercial studies may be covered under 
the third group. 

Grants of $2,000 a year will be made for each advanced course that 
is approved by the board, and no restriction is placed upon the num- 
ber that a school may organize. The grant is intended for efficient 
staffing and equipment. Up to November, 1917, between 270 and 
280 applications had been made, mainly by schools in large urban 
areas, for the recognition of advanced courses of which more than 
half were in science and mathematics, and about two-thirds of the 
remainder for modern studies. Of the applications, G3 were ap- 
proved in science and mathematics, 13 in classics, and 19 in modern 
languages. 

Considerable criticism has been raised against the introduction of 
advanced courses on the ground that it penalizes the smaller schools, 
where the number of older pupils is as a rule not adequate for the 
organization of special work. It is felt that older pupils who desire 
to specialize will leave the smaller schools for schools where ad- 
vanced work is offered, and it is objected that not only would the 
first schools be deprived of their more able product and of the grants 
for their attendance, but that the withdrawal of those who would nor- 
mally become prefects or leaders would militate against the develop- 
ment of corporate life in the schools, while the transferred pupils 
would find difficulty in adjusting themselves to their new surround- 
ings. It is replied in answer to such objections that the new develop- 
ment of education looks to the effective organization of educational 
facilities in an area and not the treatment of each school in isolation ; 
since the new note is cooperation and not competition, some sacrifices 
must be made. There is much truth in this contention, but there is 
little doubt that the corporate life of some schools may suffer, although 
not quite to the extent claimed b}^ the opponents of the scheme, since 
the withdrawal of older boys Avould leave a more homogeneous group 
behind. 

The movement for the establishment of advanced courses so closely 
resembles that for the development of junior colleges in this country 
that the parallel need not be pressed. It may be pointed out, how- 
ever, that the general education planned for the four years between 
12 and 1G in England corresponds closely to that provided in Ameri- 



32 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

can high schools to pupils between 14 and 18. The necessary conclu- 
sion must be that at the close of the advanced courses at the age of 
18 a pupil in England would certainly have reached the stage of a 
college junior or even of a senior in America, allowing for the fact 
that classes will be small and methods adapted to encourage as rapid 
advancement as possible. The movement is one that deserves the at- 
tention of educators in this country who feel, as many do, that some- 
where on the educational highway two years are lost by the American 
student. 

The organization of advanced courses and the implications arising 
out of them will contribute in large measure to define the scope of 
the English secondary schools. Closely associated with this problem 
is the vexed question of examinations. The existence in England of 
many examination bodies without unanimity as to standards has for 
a long time exercised a detrimental effect on secondary education. 
In 1911 a report was issued on the subject of the consultative com- 
mittee of the Board of Education, and in the following year the 
board 1 prepared the outline of a scheme upon which conferences 
were conducted with the universities, examining bodies, and repre- 
sentatives of local education authorities and secondary school teach- 
ers. In July, 1914, the scheme had advanced sufficiently to be sub- 
mitted for further criticism and suggestions from those interested in 
secondary school examinations. This scheme proposed that examin- 
ing bodies appointed by the universities should conduct two examina- 
tions, the first of those classes in secondary schools in which the 
pupils were about the age of 16, and the second at about the age of 
18, with necessary modifications in the case of girls. The first ex- 
amination, it was intended, should test the results. of general educa- 
tion in English subjects (English language and literature, history, 
and geography), foreign languages, and science and mathematics, 
and should be of such a standard as to be accepted for entrance to the 
universities. The second examination was directed to test the results 
of specialized study of a coordinated group of subjects combined with 
more general knowledge of subjects outside this group; in other 
words, the results of the advanced courses that are now established. 

The chief criticism of the examination system has always been that 
it was conducted by men who were out of touch with the schools, and 
that the examinations tended to be the goal of school work instead 
of a test of its results. To obviate these defects the board proposed 
that examining bodies should keep more closely in touch with the 
teachers, either by appointing representatives of the latter on their 
boards, or permitting them to submit their own syllabuses, or taking 
into consideration the teachers' estimates of the merits of candidates. 

1 See Board of Education, Circulars 849, 933, 996, 1002, and 1010. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 33 

It was further recommended that an authority be appointed to co- 
ordinate the standards of the examination, and it was proposed that 
this function be exercised by the Board of Education, assisted by an 
advisory committee representing universities, examining - 1 todies, teach- 
ers, education authorities, and professional and commercial bodies. 

In December, 1915, the board indicated in Circular 933 that their 
proposals had met with considerable approval, except that it was 
generally urged that the additional expenditure that would result 
from the scheme should be borne by the State. It was also insisted 
that provision should be made for the inclusion of such subjects as 
manual instruction, housecraft, music, and drawing in the proposed, 
examinations. Owing to the war it was felt to be impossible for 
financial reasons to proceed with the plan, but the following educa- 
tional points as a basis for future action met with general agreement: 

(</) Limitation of external examination to two examinations at the age of 
about 16 ami 18, respectively. 

(b) Recognition of the principle that the group rather than the individual 

subject should be the unit on which success or failure is determined 
in the first examination. 

(c) Concentration in the second examination on a special group of studies 

with one or more by-subjects. 

(</) Inclusion of subjects such as drawing, music, manual instruction, house- 
craft, or some of them, in the scheme of examination; and 

(e) Provisions for securing the cooperation of the teachers with the exam- 
ining body. 

A return was made to the proposals in Circular 996, which was 
issued on May 25, 1917, announcing that the board intended to put 
the system into operation on August 1, 1917, and would serve as the 
coordinating authority. A secondary school examinations council was 
established to act as an advisory council, consisting originally of 
18 and later 21 members, and including representatives of exam- 
ination boards of universities (9), of the teachers' registration council 
(5). of the county council association (2), of the municipal corpora- 
tions council (2), of a newly created standing committee of profes- 
sional bodies (1), of the association of education committees (1), 
and of a secondary school headmaster as supernumerary. Officials 
of the board may attend meetings of the council, but have no vote. 
The functions of the council are to deal with the following matters: 

(a) The recommendation of examining bodies for approval by the coordinat- 

ing authority. 

(b) The maintenance by each approved examining body of an adequate 

standard both for a pass in the examinations and for a pass with 
credit. 

(c) Investigation of complaints made by school authorities with regard to 

examinations. 
(<7) Promotion of conferences with examining bodies and others as occasion 
arises. 
10G406 — 19 3 



34 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDLTCATION, 191&-191S. 

(e) The form and contents of the certificates granted on the result of the 

examinations and the arrangements for their issue. 
(/) Negotiations with universities and professional bodies for the acceptance 

of the examination certificates as exempting the holders from certain 

other examinations. 

The council will act in an advisory capacity and make suggestions 
for reform to the board as the coordinating authority, but " the coun- 
cil will consult the board before committing themselves on questions 
of principle or policy which are controversial or specially important. ' 
Xo examination scheme will be approved unless it provides for 
bringing teachers into touch with the examining board, for exam- . 
ining a school on its own syllabus, if it so chooses, and the syllabus 
is, in the opinion of the examining body, adequate in scope or char- 
acter and the estimates of candidates as reported by their principals 
are taken into account. The board have undertaken to pay $10 for 
each pupil in a State-aided school who takes an examination as a 
member of his class. 

The new scheme should have an important influence in reducing 
the existing situation to some sort of uniformity. English education 
has been too much subject to a system that disturbed the develop- 
ment of secondary education in this country in the latter part of the 
last century. Not only will it reduce the numerous examining bodies 
to a reasonable size, but the requirement that closer contact be main- 
tained with schools will have a salutary eifect in removing from the 
school the necessity of sacrificing the real ends of education to the 
examination goal. A similar attitude is developing in the matter 
of the award of scholarships. More and more, narrow specialization 
for ends that are not inherent in sound education is being eliminated, 
and examinations will but serve as tests to be taken -in the ordinary 
course of developments. The problem that still remains to be solved 
relates to the nature of the examinations. Something has been done 
to discount cramming in the present regulations and to take into 
consideration a student's record as reported by the teachers. The 
next step will undoubtedly be a consideration of the reform of the 
character of the examinations themselves. The probability is that 
more attention will be given in the future to oral tests and that in the 
written examinations mere repetition of information will be dis- 
couraged. 1 

THE POSITION OF SCIENCE IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.' 

The controversy that began almost at the outbreak of the w T ar over 
the relative merits of the classics and the sciences in secondary edu- 

1 See Hartog, P. J. Examinations and their Relation to Culture and Efficiency. (Lon- 
don, lOlS.) 

2 Report of the committee appointed to inquire into the position of natural science in 
the educational system of Great Britain. Cd. 9011. (London, 1918.) 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 35 

cation, combined with the recognition of the inadequate attention 
given in schools and universities to applied science, led in 1916 to the 
appointment by the Prime Minister of a committee — 

to inquire into the position of natural science in the educational system of 
Great Britain, especially in secondary schools and universities, and to advise 
what measures are needed to promote its study, regard being had to the require- 
ments of a liberal education, to the advancement of pure science, and to the 
interests of the trades, industries, and professions which particularly depend 
upon applied science. 

The committee, consisting of 17 members, was under the chair- 
manship of Sir J. J. Thomson and issued its report in 1918. Evi- 
dence was collected from schools and universities, representative 
men of science in the fields of agriculture, chemistry, geology, engi- 
neering, and metallurgy, and a number of leading firms engaged in 
engineering and the chemical industry. 

After a brief reference to the history of science teaching and the 
prejudice against its introduction both in schools and universites, 
the report emphasizes the need of a wider extension of the subject: 

Now it is the war and its needs that have made us once again conscious of 
the nation's weakness in science. But it is for the sake of the long years of 
peace, quite as much as for the days of war, that some improvement in the 
scientific education of the country is required. 

With regard to the controversy between the classicists and scien- 
tists, it is pointed out that the humanizing influence of science has 
too often been obscured. In urging the recognition of the educa- 
tional value of science, its place in education is thus summarized: 

It can arouse and satisfy the element of wonder in our nature. As an intel- 
lectual exercise it disciplines our powers of mind. Its utility and applica- 
bility are obvious. It quickens and cultivates directly the faculty of observa- 
tion. It teaches the learner to reason from facts which come under his own 
notice. By it the power of rapid and accurate generalization is strengthened. 
Without it, there is a real danger of the mental habit of method and arrange- 
ment never being acquired. Those who have had much to do with the teaching 
of the young know that their worst foe is indolence, often not willful, but due 
to the fact that curiosity has never been stimulated and the thinking powers 
never awakened. Memory has generally been cultivated, sometimes imagina- 
tion, but those whose faculties can best be reached through external and sensi- 
ble objects have been left dull or made dull by being expected to remember and 
appreciate without being allowed to see and criticize. In the science lesson, 
the eye and the judgment are always being called upon for an effort, and 
because the result is within the vision and appreciation of the learner, he is 
encouraged as he seldom can be when he is dealing with literature. It has 
often been noticed that boys when they begin to learn science receive an intel- 
lectual refreshment which makes a difference even to their literary work. 

This quotation has been made at length, in spite of what will be 
regarded by many as faulty psychology, because it furnishes the key- 
note of the report and in one form or another recurs many times, 



36 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

and because it is representative of the type of thought on education 
that is frequently found in England. The report nowhere enters into 
a detailed discussion of the humanizing influence of science, but here 
and there deprecates the fact that many of the ablest boys and girls 
leave the secondary schools ,k with little or no idea of its importance 
as a factor in the progress of civilization or of its influence on human 
thought." 

Science teaching in secondary schools for boys — 

is in general confined to the elements of physics and chemistry ; botany and 
zoology are. as a rule, taught only to those boys who intend to enter tho 
medical profession, while geology, so far as it is taught at all, is taken in con- 
nection with geography, or informally as part of the activities of the school 
scientific society. 

Under the regulations of the Board of Education for grant-earning 
schools, science must be included in the curriculum, unless exceptions 
are permitted in special cases. But although science thus occupies 
a position in no way inferior to that of any other subject, the com- 
mittee found a number of conditions that militate against successful 
work in science. Among these are : (1) Late entrance into secondary 
school, the assumption being that 12 should be the normal age for 
entry. (2) Early leaving, after less than three years in school, due 
to "(a) the parents' inability or reluctance to forego the wages 
which boys of 14 can earn; (b) the want of appreciation of the value 
of secondary education, even from the point of view of success in 
after life; (c) the tradition of beginning work at as early an age as 
possible; (d) the desire of the boys themselves to escape from the 
restraints of school life." (3) Lack of advanced work for those 
remaining at school to 18. (4) Inadequate staffing, equipment, and 
time. (5) Restricted scope, with the result that "in some cases 
plrysics up to the age of 16 means little more than practical measure- 
ments and heat, while in chemistry the theoretical foundations of the 
subject are often neglected.'' (6) Inadequate provision of university 
entrance scholarships for boj's who have specialized in science. The 
situation is still less satisfactory in the public schools, many of which 
are not inspected by the Board of Education and in which the liter- 
ary and classical traditions are more influential. It frequently hap- 
pens that little or no science is offered in these schools to boys who 
specialize in classics, even though adequate provision is made for 
the subject on the modern sides. The public schools in turn exert 
an adverse influence on the preparatory schools because science car- 
ries hardly any weight either in the entrance or scholarship 
examinations. 

In the secondary schools for girls the conditions are less favor- 
able and there is even less definiteness than in the boys' schools as 
to the nature of education to be provided and the relative importance 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 37 

of subcjcts. The Board of Education, in its regulations for grant- 
earning secondary schools for girls, permits the substitution of a course 
in domestic subjects for science and mathematics after 15, and in 
the period preceding this age the time assigned to science is quite in- 
adequate. In a large number of private schools the subject is omitted 
entirely. 

With reference to secondary education in general the committee 
is in agreement with the present trend of thought in England that: 

The best preparation for any occupation or profession is a general education 
reached by the average boy at the age of 16, followed, whore possible, by a 
more specialized course on a limited range of subjects. This general education 
sin hi Id provide normally for the study of English, including history and geogra- 
phy, languages other than English, mathematics, and science; each of these 
subjects should be regarded as an integral part of the education of both boys 
and girls, and a fair balance should be maintained between the time allotted to 
them. 

In a four-year course from 12 to 16 not less than four periods a 
week in the first year nor on the average less than six periods a week 
in the following three years should be given to science. Efficient 
teaching of the subject should be promoted by a system of State 
inspection and by its inclusion in the first school examination 1 
which should come at the completion of the general course at about 
the age of 16. 

The further recognition of science in a secondary education must 
in the opinion of the committee be accompanied by a revision of the 
curriculum, which has tended to become too narrow and to be out 
of touch with many of its applications. " The course should be self- 
contained, and designed so as to give special attention to those 
natural phenomena which are matters of everyday experience; in 
fine, the science taught should be kept as closely connected with 
human interests as possible." The committee finds general agree- 
ment that the best preparation for the study of science in secondary 
schools is a course of nature study up to the age of 12, and suggests 
that the work of the first year might include physiography, practical 
work involving measurements of simple physical quantities, and 
serving as an introduction to some important physical branches in 
connection with the making of such things as electric bells, small 
induction coils, telescopes, pumps, and so on ; where laboratory facili- 
ties are available the committee favors, in addition to plwsiography, 
" a course of elementary general science, including work of an intro- 
ductory kind on hydrostatics, heat, and the properties, both physical 
and chemical, of air and water." 

The systematic study of science, beginning at about the age of 
13, should include physics, chemistry, and biology, not with a view 

1 See on the question of secondary school examinations, pp. 32ff. 



38 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1910-1918. 

to training specialists, but rather to give as good a mental discipline 
as possible and an acquaintance with the principles involved in the 
phenomena of daily experience in each of these branches. The report 
emphasizes the responsibility of the science teacher for the English 
in which the work of his class is written, and the excellent oppor- 
tunities for teaching clear writing in connection with everyday 
laboratory work and for instilling the habit of reading books in 
science. Some modifications would be essential in the case of girls. 
Hygiene, for example, should be well taught in girls' schools, but 
preferably at the 16 to 18 stage : 

"Where this is impossible definite teaching on the laws of health and on 
personal hygiene may well form part of the work of the lower forms, but it 
can not be properly considered as a part of the science course. Similarly, 
lessons on the everyday affairs of the household are obviously of practical im- 
portance, and they form a part of scientific education if they are given by a 
teacher who has a real background of scientific knowledge. But much of the 
domestic science taught in schools has no claim to the name of science at all ; 
it would be less pretentious and more accurate to call it housecraft and find 
a place for it outside the hours allotted to science. 

At the age of 16 students may begin a more intensive study, usu- 
ally for two years, of some special subject, but without neglecting 
other branches of the general course, especially English and mathe- 
matics, and frequently enough French and German to be used as 
tools. The specialists in science will carry forward to a higher 
stage the work in two or more of the sciences — physics, chemistry, or 
biology — the choice depending somewhat upon the future career of 
the students. The fact may here be mentioned that under the new 
regulations for advanced courses in scondary schools the Board of 
Education in 1917 recognized 63 courses in science and mathematics 
out of a total of 95 approved, the remainder being distributed be- 
tween classics (13) and modern languages (19). At the same time it 
is recommended that a course or courses be offered suitable for stu- 
dents specializing in other subjects than science. The following 
courses are suggested tentatively: 

A. (1) A course on the outlines of cosmical physics and astronomical prin- 
ciples of general interest, such as the measurement of time, the calendar, the 
size and mass of the earth and sun; the applications of spectroscopy to eluci- 
date the composition of the stars, nebulae, etc.; (2) a course on the general 
principles of geology, without too much technical detail, illustrated by local 
examples and the use of geological maps; (3) a course on physiology and 
hygiene, which would include a discussion of the part played by bacteria and 
other lower organisms in fermentation and in the spread of disease; (4) a 
course on physical meteorology; the composition and general circulation of the 
atmosphere, relation of wind to pressure, storm, clouds, rain, snow, thunderstorm, 
the aurora, weather-mapping. 

B. Courses on the history of science, e. g.. (1) the history of astronomy from 
the Greeks to Newton, including some account of the geocentric and heliocentric 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 39 

systems; (2) the history of mechanics on the lines of the earlier portions of 
Mach's Principles of Mechanics. 

C. Courses on the development of scientific ideas, e. g., the constitution of 
matter ; the conservation of energy ; the doctrine of evolution ; heredity ; immu- 
nity. 

D. The lives and work of scientific men, e. g., Leonardo da Vinci, Galilei >, 
Newton, Lavoisier, Cavendish, Faraday, Clark Maxwell, Kelvin, Pasteur, 
Darwin, and Helmholtz. 

E. The bearing of scientific inventions on industrial progress, e. g., in con- 
nection with the history of farming or other local industries; methods of trans- 
port by land, water, and air: means of communication, such as signaling, 
telegraphy, telephones ; methods of lighting. 

F. Courses of a more practical kind than those mentioned above on the par- 
ticular applications of science, e. g., on the internal-combustion engine or the 
dynamo ; such courses would appeal to boys with a mechanical turn of mind. 

G. A course on the method and philosophy of science, historically treated 
with special reference to the work of Aristotle and his predecessors, Archimedes, 
Galileo, and Bacon, and the later experimental philosophers. 

The committee recommends that, if a second school examination 
is adopted in accordance with recent proposals of the Board of Edu- 
cation, candidates be examined in the group of subjects in which they 
have specialized, together with at least one other general subject. 
Thus a student who has taken an advanced course in science should be 
examined in that subject as well as in history or an ancient or modern 
language or English literature. Candidates who pass the second 
school examination might properly be exempted from the intermediate 
examination which in some universities comes at the end of the first 
year. 

The committee recognizes that any progress in the teaching of 
science depends on the adequate supply of teachers well trained in 
academic and professional subjects, and that such a supply is depend- 
ent on the payment of considerably better salaries than at present and 
on improvement in conditions of service. It is suggested that, in 
addition to university study of science, teachers be required to have 
one year of training, spent partly in actual teaching in a secondary 
school and partly in attendance at professional teachers' courses at 
the universities. Such training should later be supplemented by 
further study and visits to other teachers and schools. Other essen- 
tials to successful advancement of the position of science are suitable 
laboratory accommodation, equipment, and libraries, with apparatus 
and books, periodically renewed and supplemented. 

Turning to the universities, the committee recommends an increase 
in the number of scholarships, especially for students of science, but 
based on an examination that does not encourage overspecialization 
in the schools. Since the need of an increased number of trained 
scientific workers could not be met by an extension of scholarships, 
it is suggested that university fees be lowered. The normal age at 



40 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

which boys should pass from the secondary schools, at least to the 
universities of Oxford and Cambridge, should be 18 rather than 19, 
the usual age before the war. More adequate opportunities should 
be offered for students who do not intend to work for an honors 
degree to take a continuous course in science for a pass degree corre- 
sponding more nearly to the B. S. in this country. ' But the committee 
is opposed to one-sided specialization, since — 

the increase of specialization in all brandies of knowledge at the universities 
has brought it about that students of one branch of knowledge have little 
opportunity of hearing anything about other subjects. It is therefore very 
desirable that there should be given at the universities courses of lectures of a 
general character on philosophy, history, literature, science, and economics. 

On the completion of the undergraduate course the committee urges 
the introduction of a year's research work, not so much for the sake 
of getting new results as for the training afforded in independence of 
thought, maturity of judgment, and self-reliance, and for the gain 
in critical powers and enthusiasm for service. The committee recom- 
mends a uniform and comprehensive system of research degrees in 
accordance with the resolutions passed at the Universities' Confer- 
ence held on May 18, 1917. Far larger provision should be made by 
means of scholarships for the encouragement of postgraduate re- 
search, since " no expenditure of public money on scholarships holds 
out more prospects of valuable returns." For the promotion of 
original research by students and members of university faculties the 
committee recommends an increase of State grants to insure the effi- 
cient equipment of laboratories and a reduction in the amount of time 
required by routine duties. 

The report also considers the relation of science to medicine, engi- 
neering, agriculture, the Army, the civil service, and its importance 
in the preparation of students for these professions. With reference 
to technical education outside the universities the committee recom- 
mends an increase in " the provision of instruction in pure and 
applied science in technical schools and institutions of all grades," 
including junior and senior technical schools and evening schools, all 
of which need to be adequately coordinated so that students can pass 
from one to the other. " Science, both in its general aspects and in its 
bearing on industry," should find a place in the courses of the 
proposed continuation schools, and might properly be more exten- 
sively introduced in schemes and systems for adult education. The 
committee declares with reference to the latter that : 

We are by no means sure that popular interest in science is as great to-day 
as ii was 30 years ago. Until this general interest in science is extended and 
increased and the deficiencies of adult education in this respect are made good, 
an important piece of work in national education remains to be done. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 41 

The report closes with a consideration of the supply of trained 
scientific workers for industrial and other purposes which the com- 
mittee regards as a matter of the utmost gravity and urgency, for — ■ 

It is agreed on all sides that it is absolutely necessary for the prosperity and 
safety of the country after the war that the development of the resources of the 
Empire and the production of our industries must be on a scale greatly in excess 
of anything we have hitherto achieved. Schemes of reconstruction and develop- 
ment are being prepared and discussed ; each one of them requires a supply of 
trained workers, and the proposals will be futile unless a large army of these is 
forthcoming. 

The work of the Department for Scientific and Industrial Research, 
established in July, 1915, has already stimulated a new attitude 
among employers to the need of well-directed research, better train- 
ing, and the more skillful use of scientific methods. An extensive 
movement has been inaugurated toward the formation of research 
associations in the larger industries, some working independently, 
some in connection with universities. This movement will lead to a 
demand for more trained men and will offer better recognition and 
higher remuneration for their services than hitherto. To meet this 
demand the supply on the basis of prewar statistics was inadequate. 
After canvassing the possibilities the committee concludes that : 

It is of the utmost importance that ability should not be wasted, and if it 
is not to be wasted, measures must, as we have said, be taken to insure (1) that 
no pupil capable of profiting by a full secondary education should miss the 
opportunity of receiving it; and (2) that the leakage from the schools should 
be go far as possible stopped. 

For these the doors to the universities and technical colleges must 
be thrown open by means of scholarships and maintenance grants, 
and the development of sufficient and attractive careers for trained 
skill and knowledge. No small factor in the movement is the dis- 
semination of a knowledge and appreciation of the need of reform. 

If science is to come by its own, the Nation as a whole must be brought to 
recognize the fundamental importance of the facts and principles of science to 
the right ordering of our national life. The more closely the work of our 
legislators touches the life of the people, the more intimately it is concerned 
with questions of food supply, housing, transport, the utilization of natural 
resources, and the conditions which make for bodily health, the more dependent 
it becomes on the skilled advice and assistance of those who can bring their 
knowledge of science to bear on social and economic problems. Certainly we 
must provide the requisite training and opportunities for those who are capable 
of advancing natural knowledge or acting as scientific experts. But it is no 
less important that we should secure for all who are of an age to receive it 
an education which will enable them to realize the vital need of a knowledge 
of science both for the individual and national well-being. 



42 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1&16-1D18. 

POSITION OF MODERN LANGUAGES. 1 

The committee to inquire into the position of modern languages in 
the educational system of Great Britain was appointed by the Primo 
Minister in 1916, under the chairmanship of Mr. Stanley Leathes, 
and reported in 1918. Considerable unrest has existed for some time 
on the neglect of modern languages and dissatisfaction has arisen 
with the assumption that English alone is an adequate medium for 
conducting the ever-increasing world intercourse of the country. As 
in the case of the neglect of science the uneasiness has been not a 
little stimulated by the greater attention devoted to such matters in 
Germany. The work of the present committee must, therefore, be 
considered in relation to the whole movement for reconstruction in 
English education that will have its effect not merely on the schools 
but on commerce and industry as well. The province of the com- 
mittee was as follows: 

To inquire into the position occupied by the study of modern languages in 
the educational system of Great Britain, especially in secondary schools and 
universities, and to advise what measures are required to promote their study, 
regard being had to the requirements of a liberal education, including an ap- 
preciation of the history, literature, and civilization of other countries, and to 
the interests of commerce and public service. 

The committee followed the same procedure as the committee on 
the position of natural science and heard witnesses representing in- 
dustry and commerce, educational institutions and associations, and 
the public services. Questions were also sent to similar representative 
organizations. 

An account of the history of modern languages in Great Britain 
indicates that the modern subjects have received adequate recogni- 
tion in the schools and universities only during the past 30 years, 
but that public interest has not been strong and the supply of 
teachers with appropriate qualifications has not kept up with the 
demand. Several reasons, obvious to the American educator, have 
militated against a better appreciation of modern subjects, not the 
least valid of these being the richness of English literature and the 
extensiveness of the repertory of knowledge in most fields, as well 
as the insular situation of the country. Foreigners, too, have taken 
the trouble to learn English, so that this language served as an 
adequate medium of intercourse the world over. " The need of 
modern language study was not clear and insistent before the war." 
In the schools modern subjects have suffered, as most new subjects, 
in competition with those that have a traditional place and are en- 
couraged by the granting of scholarships and other incentives. 

1 Report of the committee appointed by the prime minister to inquire into the position 
of modem languages in the educational system of Great Britain. Cd. 9036. (London, 
L918.) 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 43 

111 competition with the classics, modern language studies suffered from un- 
certainty of method and of aims, from lack of established traditions and stand- 
ards ; teachers needed exceptional qualifications, involving unusual length of 
training and expense; many were accepted as instructors whose attainments 
were frankly insufficient. Those of the highest attainments and ideals were 
discouraged by indifference, sometimes by contempt and hostility. 

Much progress has been made in recent years; any further advance 
depends on the cultivation of sound public opinion. With this end 
in view the committee has defined the many-sided values of modern 
studies, that is, " all those studies (historical, economic, literary, 
critical, philological, and other) which are approached through 
modern foreign languages " : 

Modern studies subserve the purposes of industry and commerce; they are 
needed for scientific instruction and information ; by them alone can be 
gathered and disseminated that more intimate knowledge of foreign countries 
which is necessary for the wise conduct of its affairs by a democratic people; 
they are required for the public service of the country at home as well as 
abroad; through and by them our people can learn what is best and highest 
in other countries. Some of us may attach more importance to one, some to 
another of these elements, but all together must combine to supply such motives 
as can unite and mobilize a nation in the pursuit of worthy knowledge. 

The relation and place of modern studies for each of these ends 
and purposes are considered in some detail. But in addition to the 
practical values, modern studies it is claimed are an instrument of 
culture — 

and by culture we mean that training which tends to develop the higher facul- 
ties, the imagination, the sense of beauty, and the intellectual comprehension. 
Clearer vision, mental harmony, a just sense of proportion, higher illumination — 
these are the gifts that culture ought to bring. It can not bring them to all ; 
in their fullness they can be possessed by few; but in some measure they may 
be shared by all who desire them. 

If modern studies are to meet with the same success that has at- 
tended the study of the classics — 

We need an ideal such as inspires the highest classical studies. The best work 
will never be done with an eye to material profit. We, must frame our ideal 
so that it can be consistently pursued through the whole course of school and 
university life and even beyond. The first object in schools must be to lay the 
foundation of scholarship and skilled facility of expression and comprehension. 
The "more or less," the "there or thereabouts," is not good enough in language, 
or in any other instrument of culture or information; the standard of accuracy 
and of form can not be too high. Early we should also aspire to make some 
of the boys and girls understand that foreign languages are not learned as an 
end in themselves, but as a means to the comprehension of foreign peoples, 
whose history is full of fascinating adventure, who have said and felt and seen 
and made things worthy of our comprehension, who are now alive and engaged 
in like travail with ourselves, who see things differently from ourselves and 
therefore can the better help us to understand what is the whole of truth. 

After discussing the general aims and purposes underlying the 
study of modern languages, the report takes up the question of the 



44 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

relative importance of the several languages — European and non- 
European. French, from every point of view, is declared for English 
purposes to be the most important living tongue, the standard being 
as follows : 

The importance of any language may he judged by the significance of its 

people in the development of modern civilization, by the intrinsic value of its 

literature, by its contribution to the valid learning of our times, and by its 
practical use in commercial and other national intercourse. 

Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia deserve a first-class place, after 
France, in the modern studies of the universities, and all but Russian, 
which is apparently not yt>t sufficiently organized or valuable for 
such purposes, should find a place in the schools. With reference to 
the vexed question of German, the report leaves no room for doubt 
as to its importance from the point of view of information in a large 
number of fields of human knowledge. But by the standard quoted 
above the report believes, that: 

The time is hardly propitious for their dispassionate consideration. No 
doubt, as a factor of the first importance in shaping the destiny of Europe dur-. 
ing the last hundred years, Germany must retain a permanent and compelling 
interest to the historical student, though the estimate of the causes which have 
raised her to that position may undergo changes in the opinion of succeeding 
generations. And on this also there will he general agreement. After the war 
the importance of German must correspond with the importance of Germany. 
If Germany after the war is still enterprising, industrious, highly organized, 
formidable no less in trade than in arms, we can not afford to neglect her or 
Ignore her for a moment ; we can not leave any of her activities unstudied. 
The knowledge of Germany by specialists will not suffice; it must be widespread 
throughout the people. A democracy can not afford to be ignorant. We may 
indicate one point in particular, which is likely to be of importance at the end 
of the Avar. It will in any case be impossible to oust the use of German in 
commerce, even for our own purposes at home, apart from any question of 
competition in neutral countries. The mere settlement of pre-war accounts with 
Germany will be a long and difficult matter. If we are not ourselves able to 
supply men who have sufficient knowledge of German to conduct the necessary 
correspondence, strong incentive will he offered to the old practice of employing 
qualified German clerks for tin' purpose. Tins is only one of many considera- 
tions which lead us to the conclusion that it is of essential importance to the 
Nation that the study of the German language should be uot only maintained 
hut extended. 

Besides these five languages for which adequate provision should 
be made in all universities, the study of other European languages and 
of non-European languages should be promoted in various centers, 
determined partly by commercial needs, partly by other interests. 
London it is recommended should become a center for an institution 
for the study of the minor European languages similar to the School 
of Oriental Studies. In general, however, " the prospects of modern 
studies depend on the esteem of the public." 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 45 

The nature of instruction in foreign languages must vary according 
to the needs, age, and training of the students. Home instruction by 
skilled governesses may lay a sound foundation for the future, and 
it is suggested that kindergartens conducted in a foreign language 
might serve the same purpose. Systematic study in school or uni- 
versity is essential and should be supplemented by residence abroad, 
especially by those who intend to teach. Facilities for foreign resi- 
dence and the exchange of teachers and pupils should be systemati- 
cally organized and encouraged. 

The systematic study of modern languages should be begun in the 
secondary schools: the committee does not consider it advisable to 
introduce them in elementary schools, although the phonetic study of 
English might well be begun there and serve as a starting point for 
foreign languages. The committee does not commit itself on the ques- 
tion of the right age for beginning foreign-language study, but pre- 
fers to define its position in general terms: 

The position of reformers is that it is neither expedient nor profitable to be- 
gin the systematic study of a foreign language in school until the child has 
reached a stage of intellectual development which admits of his having already 
received a sound training in the use of his mother tongue, as well as a reason- 
able discipline in the essentials of a wide general education. 

The scope of modern subjects will vary somewhat according to the 
type of secondary school attended, and the continuity of study. The 
chief aim should be to give a sound training in the principles of 
language, and a firm basis on which a pupil can advance by private 
study. Intensive work on one language is much more to be com- 
mended than the sacrifice of thoroughness by the study of two or 
three at the same time — a practice not uncommon in England. This 
principle is warranted by the fact that success in one language is 
the best preparation, not only for its further study but for the study 
of a second or more languages. In a four-year course, that is, from 
11 or 12 to about 16, the energies of the pupils should not be dis- 
sipated. " It should be possible in a four-year course to bring one 
language to a useful point with the majority; only with the minority 
can a second language be begun with any advantage." The eco- 
nomical minimum for the study of the first language is four hours 
a week, preferably for two years, when a second language may be 
taken up. Specialization in language studies should not begin until 
a student has passed his first school examination, at about the age 
of 16. The advanced courses, as defined by the Board of Education, 1 
should cover as wide a range as possible, and 'private study should 
be encouraged. 

The chief essential for the improvement of the status of modern 
studies is to secure well-qualified teachers, and this end can only bo 

1 See pp. 29ff. 



46 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

achieved by improving the pay and prospects of those who must 
necessarily undertake, in the case of modern languages, an unusually 
long, laborious, and expensive training. " It is desirable that every 
teacher of modern languages in a secondary school should have a 
university degree, should have spent not less than a year abroad 
under suitable conditions, and should have undergone definite train- 
ing for his profession." The committee recommends that profes- 
sional training should consist of a period spent in a school recognized 
for the purpose, where a teacher — 

would at first employ his time in observing the methods of skilled teachers, 
and studying the scheme of work and the elements of his art, and would thus 
gradually come to understand the principles he was to follow and the difficulties 
lie would have to meet. After a sufficient period of initiation he might begin 
to teach under supervision, receiving frequent advice and practical hints; and 
before his period of training was over, he might begin to run alone. 

The committee accepts the conclusions of the Modern Language 
Association that qualified British teachers are superior to foreign 
teachers, partly because the latter are found less effective for disci- 
pline and for the exercise of a salutary influence over the pupils, 
partly because the training of foreign students has tended to give 
them an "excessive philological and antiquarian bias," and chiefly 
because "it is natural to suppose that the studies themselves will be 
more successfully presented to the classes by teachers who approach 
them from the British point of view." Foreign exchange assistants, 
however, are a most valuable supplement. 

But '"the universities are the keystone of the whole structure of 
higher education." At present the arrangements as to staff, equip- 
ment, and expenditure for modern languages are defective in the 
British universities. The committee urges that action should be taken 
by Parliament to adopt a policy embodying — 

a scheme providing for tbe establishment, within 10 years from the conclusion 
of the war. in addition to all the posts that already exist and those that may 
be founded by private or local initiative, of, say, 55 first-class professorships — 
15 of French studies, and 10 each for the studies concerned with the four other 
principal countries of Europe — and double that number of lectureships. 

Such a scheme must be accompanied by a considerable increase in 
the number of scholarships for entrance to the universities and post- 
graduate studies. In 1911-12 only 8 out of 440 entrance scholar- 
ships at Oxford and Cambridge were awarded to modern languages. 
Assistance should also be afforded to students to spend some time 
abroad. 

In addition to organized study in secondary schools and universi- 
ties the report emphasizes the importance of providing facilities for 
the study of modern languages in later life, especially for those who 
discover the need of such knowledge for commerce or industry. The 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 47, 

local authorities are urged to extend the provisions already made in 
evening classes by the organization of other part-time and even brief 
whole-time study. But the pursuit of such study can only be stimu- 
lated if adequate pay and prospects are held out for specialization, a 
condition not prevailing at present. 

For the specialist in modern language teaching the sections on 
method and examinations will prove of particular interest, especially 
the carefully elaborated consideration of the merits and limitations 
of the direct method, of the importance of oral tests, and of the place 
of translation from English into the, foreign tongue. The report 
contains a summary of conclusions and recommendations, an appen- 
dix on the hours of work, salaries, and pensions in a number of foreign 
countries, and a letter from 31 professors and readers of modern 
languages in British universities representing their views on the sub- 
ject of the committee's reference. The report represents the substan- 
tial consensus of the whole committee; the exceptions are certain 
reservations on the questions of the educational value of French and 
Latin, compulsory Latin at the university, languages in the first 
school examination, modern sides, the age at which foreign languages 
should be begun, preparatory schools, and the classification of schools. 
The report will, like the corresponding report on the position of 
natural science, exercise an important influence on the development 
of higher education in Great Britain. The general position of the 
committee may well be summarized in its own words : 

The due advance of modern studies appears to us to require in the first 
place a change of spirit. We do not underrate, wo may even he held by some 
to have unduly emphasized, the practical value of modern studies as affecting 
the material fortunes of the Nation, its classes, and its individual citizens. But 
no department of knowledge can obtain its highest development unless it lie 
inspired by an ideal. That ideal of humane learning concerned with the 
thought, the life, the achievements, the psychology, in fact, the entire history of 
modern nations, we have endeavored to indicate and define; and we have found 
an encouraging example in the highest results attained during many centuries 
by the culture based on the records of ancient civilization. What has been 
done through the study of the dead people of Greece and Rome, can be done, 
we conceive, through the study of the living peoples of the habitable globe in 
proportion to their several contributions to the art of living. Modern studies 
must for such purposes be pursued with like intensity of purpose, with like 
faith and sympathy, with like seriousness and accuracy, and a like ideal of 
scholarship. 

TENDENCIES IN SECONDARY EDUCATION. 

EDUCATIONAL OPPOPTUXITIES. 

The education act gives no special treatment or attention to sec- 
ondary education. Local authorities are encouraged to devote more 
money to higher education by the removal of the existing restriction 
on the amount that can be levied from the local rates, and the law 



48 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

specifically requires that " adequate provision shall be made in order 
to secure that children and young persons shall not be debarred from 
receiving the benefits of any form of education by which they are 
capable of profiting, through inability to pay fees." Although the 
law does not require the establishment of secondary schools, the Board 
of Education is empowered to withhold its refusal of schemes sub- 
mitted by local education authorities unless they make adequate pro- 
visions for education in the area as a whole. Indirectly, therefore, 
considerable pressure will be brought to bear to increase the oppor- 
tunities for higher education that are at present limited. The ques- 
tion of free secondary education was not entirely lost sight of, and 
it was proposed, during the course of the debate on the Fisher bill, 
that fees be abolished in State-aided secondary schools. The proposal 
did not meet with much response. Mr. Fisher pointed out that 67 
per cent of the pupils in the State-aided schools had come from the 
public elementary schools; instead of abolishing fees and losing 
$5,000,000 of revenue, it was wiser to encourage local education au- 
thorities to provide more secondary schools, to apply for more State 
grants, and as a natural consequence to provide more free places in 
such schools. The legal requirement quoted above would insure that 
no pupil of ability would be deprived of his opportunity of securing 
a higher education. 

No action has accordingly been taken by the State to secure the 
establishment of free secondary education as a part of the national 
system. There is, however, a pronounced body of opinion through- 
out the country in favor of free higher education for those who have 
the ability to profit by it. The British Labor Party had something 
of this kind in mind when they demanded in their program public 
provision " for the education alike of children, of adolescents, and of 
adults, in which the Labor Party demands a genuine equality of 
opportunity, overcoming all differences of material circumstances." 
The Workers' Educational Association adopted the following resolu- 
tions on full-time secondary education as part of their program for 
educational reconstruction : 

That all children admitted to a secondary school should have reached an 
approved standard of education, the ground of transfer being the fitness of the 
scholar for the broader curriculum. 

That free provision should he made for all who are eligible and desirous to 
enter such schools, such provisions to include a satisfactory maintenance 
allowance where necessary. 

That the number of secondary schools of varying types should be largely 
increased, and that the curriculum be made more variable to meet the interests 
of individual scholars. 

The sense of the Education Reform Council, a large and representa- 
tive body appointed at the instance of the Teachers' Guild, was that 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 49 

scholarships and free places " should be provided in such numbers as 
will admit to secondary schools those pupils from elementary or pre- 
paratory schools who can profitably undertake a full secondary 
course." It also urged that "the number of efficient secondary 
schools of varying types should be increased," a view shared by the 
Incorporated Association of Headmasters, which declared in its edu- 
cational policy that " there should be a considerable increase in the 
number of secondary schools, i. e., schools which provide some form 
of whole-time general education as distinct from technical training 
up to the age of 18." The Incorporated Association of Assistant Mas- 
ters in Secondary Schools also declared it to be part of its educational 
policy that " no child who has shown capacity to profit by a course of 
secondary education should be refused admission to the schools, even 
if the child has to be fed and clothed at the public expense to enable 
him to attend." This view was slightly expanded in the educational 
policy of the National Association of Education Officers, who declared 
" that no child who is qualified to receive secondary, technical, or uni- 
versity education should be debarred therefrom for financial reasons." 
Finally, the Teachers' Registration Council supported " the principle 
of abolishing fees in secondary schools for the maintenance of which a 
local education authority is responsible, and also the principle of a 
due number of free places in secondary schools which are partly 
maintained by State grants." 

The Athenaeum and the Times Educational Supplement went 
beyond this program and urged the establishment of a system of 
universal free secondary education based on a common elementary 
education. The common basis would continue up to the age of 11 or 12 
and Avould be followed by a general secondary education adapted to 
individual ability and interests up to 15 and 16. It is hardly probable 
that these proposals will take concrete shape for some time. The 
principle that differentiation should take place at the age of 11 or 12 
is very generally accepted and is undoubtedly the age that will be 
universally adopted. The accomplishments of an elementary school 
or its equivalent up to that age will become the basis upon which will 
be developed the advanced work in ttie upper grades and the central 
schools required by the act and the lower secondary school courses. 

It may be generally assumed that the opportunities that arc de- 
manded will be extended and increased in public and other State- 
aided schools. In addition to these schools there has been a supply 
of private schools ranging all the way from the great public schools 
and other endowed schools to their private venture or proprietary 
school. At the present time neither the Board of Education nor 
any other authority knows the extent of this supply. Under the 
10640G — 19 4 



50 BIE^N T IAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION - , 1916-1918. 

new act, however, the board is now empowered to secure a descrip- 
tion of all schools " in order that full information may be available 
as to the provision for education and the use made of such provision 
in England and Wales."' Together with local education authorities 
the board ma}- inspect schools that desire to be recognized as efficient 
for certain purposes. The Teachers' Registration Council will also 
set the status of private schools indirectly in so far as a teacher's 
Ability to be registered will depend in part on the character of 
the schools in which he has served. Further, private schools will be 
subjected to severe competition for various reasons; the schools estab- 
lished by local education authorities will command more money 
from the State and their localities: such schools will offer higher 
salaries and pensions to teachers; the board will grant additional 
aid to the larger schools for advanced courses; and, finally, it is 
proposed that there shall be some differentiation between public and 
private schools in the certificates awarded as a result of the secondary 
schools examinations. On the other hand, the influence of compe- 
tition, inspection, and some public supervision may well stimulate 
the private schools to take a very real place in the national system. 
The private schools have always played an important part in English 
education, and, if they have not fully measured up to the claims of 
those who have favored their existence on the ground that they serve 
as experimental stations, they have furnished opportunities for sec- 
ondary education that would otherwise not have been available. 
Many will disappear under the full light of publicity, but many 
others may win a new place for themselves as the result of the 
revived interest in education. 

THE MEANING OF A LIBERAL EDUCATION. 

Complete unanimity prevails on the broad question of the func- 
tion of secondary education. The opportunities will undoubtedly bo 
democratized, and access to the secondary school will become more 
ready. There is no intention, however, to confuse the functions of 
secondary education by introducing into it elements of technical and 
vocational training. Those who charge the European secondary 
school with being the haven of aristocracy would be somewhat aston- 
ished to find liberal and conservative, democrat and aristocrat, em- 
ployee and employer united in complete agreement on the principle 
that " a secondary school exists to provide a liberal training, and 
it is no part of its task to furnish specific or technical instruction in 
the rudiments of professional studies or commercial routine." 
(Schoolmasters' Yearbook, 1918.) The Workers' Educational Asso- 
ciation expresses the same view in its resolutions : 

That the requirements of a liberal education should be regarded as para- 
mount in the organization of every type of secondary school. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. ' 51 

That in the interests alike of education and of economic efficiency a sound 
general education in childhood and adolescence is the necessary foundation 
for any specialized course of technical or professional training, both in town 
find country, and that therefore a technical education should be regarded as 
supplementary to secondary education. 

The Incorporated Association of Headmasters urges that: 

The essential characteristic of post-elementary education should be the; 
development of various types of schools so as to give the best possible chance 
to the most varied kinds of ability. The one common feature must be that the 
aim is primarily educational — the harmonious development of the mental, 
moral, and physical powers. The imparting of the technical elements of a 
trade is not in itself an education, but to say this is not to deny that a urea! 
deal of the knowledge that lies at the foundation of every sort of trade and prac- 
tical pursuit can be and ought to be laid under contribution for the building up 
of various sorts of educational courses. 

The functions of liberal and technical education are thus clearly 
separated. Before entering upon a discussion of the meaning and 
content of a liberal education, the general aim of secondary educa- 
tion that a liberal education is to promote may be considered. Again 
it is illuminating to quote current English thought. The School- 
masters' Yearbook, 1918, thus describes the purposes of secondary 
schools : 

They have to foster learning as a necessary element in life, and this they do 
by giving instruction which aids the pupil in his efforts to understand the 
things about him. To realize this purpose the schools need a wide curriculum. 
Literature, science, mathematics, art, and practical work all have their place, 
since each in its own sphere helps to cultivate that power of interpreting life 
which is the result of sound education. 

Similarly the Athenaeum in endeavoring to combat what appeared 
to it and many others efforts on the part of employers united into a 
Federation of British Industries to direct education into vocational 
channels, sums up the needs of the day as follows (Mar., 1918) : 

But man can not live by bread alone. He is a member of a family, a trade- 
union, a club, a city, a nation, a church. He is a human personality, with 
something more than a pair of hands condemned to toil at the will of another. 
He has intellectual and esthetic taste (only too often cramped and unde- 
veloped) and moral principles. He believes in liberty, justice, and public right, 
and goes to give his life for these things. The worker is much more than a 
worker; he is a citizen. And every citizen, regardless of his social position or 
wealth, has claims which are prior even to the claims of industry itself— 
claims of opportunities to enable him to fulfill his manifold responsibilities as 
a producer, as a member of various social groups from the family to the State. 
His responsibilities are no less if he be a ship's riveter than if he were a ship- 
builder. The engine fireman is no less a ritizen than the railway director or 
the railway shareholder. 

The detailed definition of the content that should make up a liberal 
education depends on these points of view. Democracy will make 
more and more demands on the intelligence of its citizens, both as 



52 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION-, 1916-1918. 

individuals and as members of societ} 7 . The school should prolong 
rather than restrict the opportunities for that general education that 
is the foundation of the well-being of man as an individual and as a 
citizen. Those who look into the future see that for the working- 
classes a new era is opening up in which more leisure will be pro- 
vided; it should be one of the functions of education to train for the 
enjoyment of that leisure. Further, the extension of the franchise 
will require a more general dissemination of education than hitherto. 
There is also a genuine and sincere belief that technical and voca- 
tional training will be improved if based on a broad general educa- 
tion, a belief that is shared both by teachers and specialists alike. 
Industrial and commercial success and progress, it is felt, will depend 
on well-trained and well-educated leaders rather than on the early 
specialization of boys and girls. Finally, it is not improbable that 
the importance of vocational training for the masses of industrial 
workers may be proved by the experience with such training during 
the war to have been exaggerated. 

The question of educational values was raised soon after the outr 
break of the war and discussion was bandied to and fro on the 
merits of this subject or that, now classics, now the sciences, and 
from time to time modern languages. For a time it seemed that no 
advantages could be claimed for one subject without disparaging 
another. It was many months before it was recognized that the 
problem involved was much broader than that of the value of this 
subject or that, and that no settlement could be obtained unless the 
larger view were taken and the question approached from the stand- 
point of the needs of the boy or girl to be educated. If any progress 
was to be made, the curriculum as a whole must be subjected to 
critical evaluation. This stage was not reached until the middle 
of 1916. 

On February 2. 191G, a letter on the neglect of science, signed by a 
large number of eminent scientists, appeared in the Times. It was 
pointed out that the country had suffered checks during the war 
through lack of scientific knowledge among administrative officials, 
statesmen, and civil servants, and leaders in public and industrial 
life. In the history of the British Government Lord Playfair was the 
only scientist to become a cabinet minister. In general there was not 
enough knowledge of science to give an intelligent respect for it. 
Scientific method and scientific habit of mind would be essential to 
success in the period of reconstruction. At present science " does not 
pay " in most examinations, and few leaders in education are scien- 
tists. If science were assigned a greater value in the civil-service 
examinations, the subject would rise into its proper position and gain 
the respect necessary for national welfare. " Our desire is to draw 
attention to this matter, not in the interests of existing professional 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 53 

men of science, but as a reform which is vital to the continued 
existence of this country as a great power." A meeting was held in 
London on May 3, 1916, at which resolutions were passed urging 
increased attention to science in educational institutions. 

On the day following this meeting, May 4, 1016, a number of 
eminent men of letters and scientists issued a letter on " Educational 
Aims and Methods," urging the claims of humanities. They pointed 
out the danger that results of a war in which material means and 
technical skill are essential might be misleading. 

If in our reforms we fix our eyes only on material ends, we may foster 
among ourselves that very spirit against which we are fighting to-day * * *. 
Technical knowledge is essential to our industrial prosperity and national 
safety ; but education should be nothing less than a preparation for the whole 
of life. 

It is essential, therefore, to consider carefully the effect of sweeping 
changes proposed at a time of great stress. The purpose of education 
is broader than preparation for a vocation. 

It should introduce the future citizens of the community, not merely to 
the physical structure of the world in which they live, but also to the deeper 
interests and problems of politics, thought, and human life. It should acquaint 
them, so far as may be, with the capacities and ideals of mankind, as ex- 
pressed in literature and art, with its ambitions and achievements'as recorded 
in history, and with the nature and laws of the world as interpreted by 
science, philosophy, and religion. If we neglect physical science, we shall have 
a very imperfect knowledge of the world around us ; but if we ignore or sub- 
ordinate the other elements of knowledge, we shall cut ourselves off from 
aspects of life of even greater importance. Even physical science will suffer. 
Some of its must distinguished representatives have strongly insisted that early 
specialization is injurious to the interests they have at heart, and that the best 
preparation for scientific pursuits is a general training which includes some 
study of language, literature, and history. Such a training gives width of 
view and flexibility of intellect. Industry and commerce will be most success- 
fully pursued by men whose education has stimulated their imagination and 
widened their sympathies. 

A belief in intellectual training is more important than physical 
science, while scientific method is necessary not only in science proper 
but in all branches of education. The whole of civilization is rooted 
in the classics and can not be neglected by those who are interested in 
literature or government. " Greece and Rome afford us unique in- 
stances, the one of creative and critical intelligence, the other of 
constructive statesmanship." In the closing paragraph of the letter 
a way was opened for securing cooperation and harmony on the larger 
question of the meaning of a liberal education : 

In urging this we do not commit ourselves to defending the present system 
of classical education in all its details. Still less do we claim for it any artificial 
privilege. We cordially sympathize with the desire to strengthen the teaching 
of modern history, of modern languages, and of the literature of our own 
country. Further, we fully accept the importance of promoting scientific re- 



54 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1&18. 

search, or extending scientific instruction in schools where it is still-inadequately 
provided, and of improving the quality of science teaching; and we desire to 
cooperate with the representatives of these studies in insuring them a due 
place in our national education. At the same time we would point out that 
much criticism of our schools seems directed against a past state of things and 
ignores reforms which have been already effected. It is sometimes forgo 
that the teaching of physical science is compulsory in all State-aided secondary 
schools, that of Latin, and of course of Greek, in none. 

In the following month, at the suggestion of the Historical Associa- 
tion, the principal organizations representing humanistic studies — 
the Classical, English, Geographical, Historical, and Modern Lan- 
guage Asociations — held a conference in Manchester, at which the 
following resolutions were passed : 

(i) It is essential that any reorganization of our educational system should 
make adequate provision for both humanistic and scientific studies. 

(ii) Premature specialization on any one particular group of studies, whether 
humanistic or scientific, to the exclusion of all others, is a serious danger, not 
only to education generally but to the studies concerned. 

(iii) Humanistic education implies the adequate study of language and litera- 
ture, geography, and history, which in each case should, at the appropriate stage 
of education, go beyond the pupils* own language and country. 

(iv) The representatives of humanistic studies would welcome from the 
representatives of the mathematical and natural sciences a statement with 
regard to those studies similar to that contained in (iii). 

(v) In all reform of education it must never be forgotten that the first object 
is the training of human beings in mind and character, as citizens of a free 
country, and that any technical preparation of boys and girls for a particular 
profession, occupation, or work must be consistent with this principle. 

(vi) Subject to the above principles the associations concerned would wel- 
come a comprehensive revision of national education from the point of view 
of present needs. 

In response to this resolution the committee of the Association of 
Public School Science Masters, in October, expressed their agreement 
with the principles stated at the conference and sent the accompany- 
ing statement : 

Natural science in education should not displace the "humanistic" studios, 
but should be complementary to them. In this capacity natural science meets 
two needs in particular : 

1. Search for truth. — Imaginative power indicates new fields in which further 
knowledge of truth may be revealed; its subsequent establishment depends on 
accurate observation, with constant recourse to nature for confirmation. The 
one aim of natural science is, in fact, the search for truth based on evidence 
rather than on authority. Hence the study of the subject implies accurate 
observation and description and fosters a love of truth. The special value of 
natural science in the training of mind and character lies in the fact that the 
history of the subject is a plain record of the search for truth for its own sake. 

2. Utilit ii. — There are certain facts and ideas in the world of natural science 
with which it is essential that every educated man should be familiar. A 
knowledge of these facts assists men (a) to understand how the forces of nature 
may be employed for the benefit of mankind, (b) to appreciate the sequence of 



EDUCATION IJST GEEAT BEITAUsT AND IEELAND. 55 

en use and effect in governing their own lives, and (c) to see things as they 
really are, and not to distort them into what they may wish them to be. It is 
the business of natural science in education to bring this knowledge within the 
range of all. 

This was followed by a letter in November from the Mathematical 
Association to the effect that : 

The teaching committee of the Mathematical Association concurs with the 
.Councils of the Classical, English, Geographical, Historical, and Modern Lan- 
guage Associations in the view that any reorganization of our educational 
system should make adequate provision for both humanistic and scientific 
studies; that premature specialization should be avoided; and that technical 
preparation for a particular profession should be conceived in such a spirit 
that it misses none of the essentials of a liberal education. 

In reply to the invitation of the representative conference to make a state- 
ment as to the position of mathematical studies in schools, the Mathematical 
Association committee would submit that from a school course of mathematics 
the pupil should acquire — (1) an elementary knowledge of the properties of 
number and space; (2) a certain command of the methods by which such 
knowledge is reached and established, together with facility in applying 
mathematical knowledge to the problems of the laboratory and the workshop; 
(3) valuable habits of precise thought and expression; (4) some understanding 
of the part played by mathematics in industry and the practical arts, as an 
instrument of discovery in the sciences, and as a means of social organization 
and progress; (5) some appreciation of organized abstract thought as one of the 
highest and most fruitful forms of intellectual activity. 

In the course of the autumn of 1916 a Council for Humanistic 
Studies was formed representing the British Academy and the five 
associations mentioned above. The council entered into communi- 
cations with organizations representing natural science— the joint 
board of scientific studies of the Royal Society and a committee on 
the neglect of science for the purpose of arriving at a common basis 
for future action. As the result of a conference between the council 
and the joint board, the following resolutions were passed in Janu- 
ary, 1917: 

1. The first object in education is the training of human beings in mind and 
character, as citizens of a free country, and any technical preparation of boys 
and girls for a particular profession, occupation, or work must be consistent 
with this principle. 

2. In all schools in which education is normally continued up to or beyond 
the age of 16, and in other schools so far as circumstances permit, the curricu- 
lum up to about the age of 16 should be general and not specialized ; and in this 
curriculum there should be integrally represented English (language and lit- 
erature), languages and literatures other than English, history, geography, 
mathematics, natural sciences, art, and manual training. 

3. In the opinion of this conference, both natural science and literary subjects 
should be taught to all pupils below the age of 16. 

4. In the case of students who stay at school beyond the age of 16, specializa- 
tion should be gradual and not complete. 

5. In many schools of the older type more time is needed for instruction in 
natural science ; and this time can often be obtained by economy in the time 
allotted to classics, without detriment to the interests of classical education. 



56 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1016-1918. 

6. In many other schools more time is needed for instruction in languages, 
history, and geography ; and it is essential, in the interests of sound education, 
that this time be provided. 

7. While it is probably impossible to provide instruction in both Latin and 
Greek in all secondary schools, provision should be made in every area for 
teaching in these subjects, so that every bey and girl who is qualified to profit 
from them shall have the opportunity of receiving adequate instruction in 
them. 

Subject to a few verbal amendments proposed by the executive 
committee of the joint board, these resolutions represent the present 
settlement of the function of the secondary school. In the words of 
a report 1 issued by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon on behalf of the Council 
for Humanistic Studies: 

It is not a little that the organizations which represent all the principal sub- 
jects of education, whether scientific or humanistic, should agree in deprecating 
early specialization, and should recognize the importance of opening the doors 
of all subjects to all pupils, and of facilitating their entrance into the paths 
most suitable for them. * * * All alike deprecate the conduct of educa- 
tion in a commercial spirit, and declare their faith in a liberal education as 
the foundation for all activities of mind and spirit in a civilized country. 

A comparison of the above resolutions with the program laid 
down for secondary schools by the Board of Education (see p. 29) 
will indicate how closely these discussions represent the requirements 
of current practice. The effect of these discussions, together with the 
reports of the committees on the position of natural science and on 
the position of modern languages, will be to give greater reality to all 
the subjects in the schools and to build up a body of public opinion 
that will insist on their equal recognition. All the proposals for 
educational reconstruction that deal with secondary- education concur 
with these resolutions which now represent the deliberate opinion of 
leaders in each of the subjects recommended, of statesmen, profes- 
sional men, and men of affairs. The great task still remains of se- 
curing the teachers educated and trained for the new duties laid upon 
the schools. The activities and progress of the Teachers' Begistra- 
tion Council and the Government inquiry into the whole queston of 
salaries are of great promise for the future status of the teachers. 
The future has still before it the consideration of the appropriate 
kind of training that must be devised. 

The aim of the secondary school is to impart a liberal education, 
the scope of which is now defined and permits such flexibility as is 
demanded by the needs and capacities of the individual. A general 
education will be provided for pupils between the ages of 12 and 1G, 
and specialization will be based on this foundation. These will be 
incorporated in the university and other examinations, and the equal 
recognition of the subjects included in the resolutions will be pro- 

1 Kenyon, Sir Frederic G. Education, Scientific and Humane. (Loudon, 1017.) 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 57 

moted in the reconstituted examinations for the higher branches of 
the Civil Service. 1 There will be removed from the secondary schools 
that reproach to which the Education Reform Council drew attention 
in its report: 

At the same time they are convinced that in the general system of these 
schools the interests of the many have hitherto been largely sacrificed to the 
special culture of the clever few, and that generally speaking the esthetic, 
observational, manual, and even literary elements of education have been 
starved to provide for an excessive and wasteful, because premature and inap- 
propriately methodized, attention to foreign languages, especially Latin. 

It is now clearly established and accepted after a struggle of 
nearly .300 years that classical monopoly is incompatible with the 
extension of educational opportunities. More secondary schools and 
easier access to them inevitably demand a broader definition of a 
liberal education than has hitherto prevailed, and such an education 
to be democratic must be subject to adaptation to the abilities and 
interests of the individuals who are to enjoy it. Referring to their 
regulations for secondary schools the Board of Education state that 
they — 

allow and encourage much elasticity in curricula, subject only to the funda- 
mental principle that the school course make effective provision for the develop- 
ment of bodily and mental faculties on broad and human lines in the pupils 
who will be the citizens of the future. 

It remains for the future to prove whether England, in thus 
building her hopes on a broad, liberal education and on a curriculum 
humanized in all its branches and in defying the demands of her 
materialists who in the name of patriotism are urging vocational 
education, is destined to be proved right or wrong. The upbuilding 
after the war — 

is to be economic as well as spiritual, but those who think out most deeply the 
need of the economic situation are most surely convinced that the problems of 
industry and commerce are at the bottom human problems and can not find 
solution without a new sense of " cooperation and brotherliness." 2 

SALARIES AND PENSIONS. 

SALARIES OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL-TEACHERS. 3 

The problem of maintaining an adequate supply of elementary- 
school teachers was already becoming serious in England and Wales 
before the war ; the outbreak of the war and its continued duration 
have only served to intensify the crisis. A large proportion of the 

1 See R< port of the Treasury Committee on Civil Service, Class I, Examination. (Cd. 
8G57, 1917.) 

'-' Paton, .1. L. The Aim of Educational Reform; in Benson, A. C, Cambridge Essays on 
Education (Cambridge, 1918). 

3 A portion of this section appeared in Srhool and Society, Vol. VII, pp. 773ff, and is 
line reprinted by the courtesy of the editor. 



58 BIENNIAL SUEVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

men had joined the arm} 7 , and many women had been attracted to 
occupations which appeared to be more obviously connected with the 
Avar activities and to offer higher remuneration than teaching. 

At the same time the war imposed additional burdens, willingly 
imed but none the less demanding sacrifices, on the teachers; 
these took the form of larger classes, extra work in the school, volun- 
tary war work of different kinds, and so oa. Not the least of the 
hardships was the depreciation of salaries due to the rising cost of 
living which by 1917 had increased about SO per cent above that of 
1911. Education authorities were confronted with several problems — ■ 
inability to retain teachers in the face of more attractive oppor- 
tunities elsewhere, inability to secure an adequate supply of candidates 
ready to undertake several years of training at a time when remunera- 
tive occupations were open to them without training, and inability 
to find additional resources when the public purse was otherwise being 
drained to meet other demands. 

The first response was to grant bonuses on salary, which never went 
beyond an annual addition of 10 per cent, and rarely affected salaries 
above $1,000 or $1,250 a year. Such increases were of course quite 
incommensurate with the needs of the time, especially when skilled 
workmen could command as much as $75 a week, and boys still under 
IS about $15 a week for unskilled services. 

In only one important respect was the stringency relieved by a 
Government prohibition against the increase of rents. The bonus 
system prevailed until about the middle of 1917, when the Govern- 
ment came to the rescue with an addition to the educational budget 
of about $18,000,000. which was specially earmarked for salaries. At 
the same time the Board of Education issued a minute recommend- 
ing that the minimum salary for women teachers in elementary 
schools should be $450 and for men teachers $500. The effect of the 
additional Government grant was to stimulate the establishment of 
new scales of salary. 

In the meantime the Government had, in June, 1917, appointed a 
departmental committee to inquire into the principles which should 
determine the construction of scales of salary for teachers in ele- 
mentary schools, and another committee to make a similar inquiry 
into the salaries of secondary school teachers. The first committee 
issued its report in February, 1918. 1 The report is based on three 
main principles : 

1. That " authorities, in constructing a scale should aim at obtaining a 
constant supply of suitable recruits, at retaining them while other careers are 

1 Report of the Departmental Committee for Inquiring into the Principles which 
should determine the Construction of Scales of Salary for Teachers in Elementary 
Schools, Vol. I, Report Crt. 8939; Vol. II, Summaries of Evidence and Memoranda, 
Cd. S909. (London, 1918.) 



EDUCATION" IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 59 

still open to them, and at securing service of the desired quality from those 
wli.i make teaching their life work." 

2. That the scale " shall provide them with a reasonable assurance of a re- 
muneration that will enable them to live appropriately without embarrassment, 
and that they may have a fair chance of advancement to posts of greater im- 
portance and emolument." 

3. That "as authorities, in framing their scab's are taking part in the work 
of establishing the teaching service of the country on a basis conducive to the 
efficiency of the system of national education, they should proceed upon a com- 
mon basis of principles." 

The committee, while accepting the administrative advantages of 
a salary scale, recognized that special consideration must be given to 
rewarding teachers of exceptional ability, to dealing with teachers 
who drift into a rut, to withholding increments from those teachers 
who are reported to be inefficient. It further considered the question 
of equal pay for men and women, for which a strong agitation has 
been launched by women teachers throughout the country. Finally, 
attention was given to removing some of the inequalities in salaries 
paid to teachers in rural and urban areas. 

The chief principle adopted for the construction of salary scales 
was that a scale with smaller increments for the early years of service, 
followed by larger increments leading up to a salary adequate for 
increasing family responsibilities, and then with further prospects 
until retirement, is superior to a sharp, steep scale leading early up 
to a maximum, or a long and gradual scale which would not yield 
an adequate salary when responsibilities were greatest. For example, 
in the case of men certificated teachers annual increments are sug- 
gested for not less than 1'2 years, followed by increments at intervals 
of not more than 3 years for a further period of about 10 years, and 
for women certificated teachers annual increments for not less than 
8 years, followed Iry increments at longer intervals as in the case of 
men. Uncertificated teachers should have a short scale covering a 
period of 4 to 6 3 T ears and not rising above the minimum for women 
certificated teachers, w T ith discretionary increments in cases of indi- 
vidual merit. 

Owing to the opposition of the teaching body, the committee was 
unable to recommend that increments should depend solely upon 
merit, and suggested that increments be automatic except in the case 
of definite default or willful neglect, with additional rewards for ex- 
ceptional merit. The committee was unable to accept the principle 
of equal pay for men and women, partly because a scale of salaries 
adequate for women is under present circumstances inadequate for 
men, and partly because it is essential to attract and retain suitable 
men in the profession. Accordingly, it advocated the principle that 
the minimum salaries for both men and women should be approxi- 



60 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

mately the same, but that the maximum for women should not be less 
(ban three-fourths of the maximum for men. 

With reference to rural and urban teachers the committee was of 
the opinion that service in the rural districts should be made finan- 
cially attractive and that accordingly salaries should be only a little 
loAver than in urban areas. While the committee did not attempt to 
establish a national scale, it offered for consideration a number of 
illustrative scales, and emphasized the importance of avoiding such 
diversity that the larger school systems would draw teachers away 
from the smaller. 

The following illustrations of scale making for certificated teach- 
ers wore offered: 

Men. — (1) Minimum $500, rising by annual increments of $25 to $800 in the 
thirteenth year of service, and then by triennial increments of $50 to $950 in 
the twenty-second year of service. 

(2) Minimum $500, rising by annual increments of $25 to $700 in the ninth 
year of service, and then by annual increments of $50 to $900 in the thirteenth 
year of service, and then by triennial increments of $50 to $1,050 in the twenty- 
second year of service. 

(3) Minimum $500, rising by annual increments of $25 to $575 in the fourth 
year of service, then by annual increments of $50 to $1,050 in the fourteenth 
year of service, and then by triennial increments of $50 to $1,200 in the twenty- 
third year of service. 

(4) Minimum $500, rising by annual increments of $25 to $600 in the fifth 
year of service, then by annual increments of $50 to $1,150 in the sixteenth 
year of service, and then by triennial increments. 

(5) Minimum $500, rising by annual increments of $50 to $1,200 in the six- 
teenth year of service, and then by triennial increments of $100 to $1,500 in the 
twenty-fifth year of service. 

Women. — (1) Minimum $450, rising by annual increments of $25 to .^650 
in the ninth year of service, and then by triennial increments of $50 to. $750 in 
the thirteenth year of service. 

(2) Minimum $450, rising as in (1) to $050 in the ninth year of service, and 
then by one increment to $700 in the tenth year of service, and then by triennial 
increments to $S50 in the nineteenth year of service. 

(3) Minimum $450, rising by annual increments of $25 to $600 in the seventh 
year of service, then by annual increments of $50 to $750 in the tenth year of 
service, and then by triennial increments of $50 to $900 in the nineteenth year 
of service. 

(4) Minimum $450, rising by annual increments of $25 to $550 in the fifth 
year of service, and then by annual increments of $50 to $750 in the eleventh 
year of service, and then by triennial increments of $50 to $1,000 in the twen- 
tieth year of service. 

(5) Minimum $450, rising as in (4) to $550, then by annual increments of 
$50 to $900 in the twelfth year of service, and then by triennial increments of 
$100 to $1,200 in the twenty-first year of service. 

The existing situation is indicated in a return on teachers' salaries 
in public elementary schools issued by the Board of Education in 
1917. Of 3G,827 certificated men teachers, only 18,332 were receiving 
salaries over $750 a year, while 7,010 received over $1,000 a year ? 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 61 

2,000 of over $1,250 a year, and only 1,866 over $1,500 a year; 2,629 
received less than the minimum of $500 a year prescribed for men. 
Of 77,139 certificated women teachers, 17,832 received less than the 
minimum of $450 prescribed, and 32,314 less than $500 a year, while 
20,573 received more than $600 a year, 7,603 over $750, and only 1,269 
were in receipt of more than $1,000 a year. The certificated teachers 
represent the highest paid elementary school teachers. The situation 
is much worse in the case of uncertificated teachers, for of 3,546 men, 
only 128 received more than $500 a year, and of 35,979 women only 
39 received more than this sum. The proposals contained in the 
present report will, if carried into practice, not only raise the mini- 
mum salaries considerably above the present minimum rates, but 
will offer teachers the prospect of a maximum of more than twice 
the present average. To these prospects must be added the benefits 
of the superannuation act of 1918. 

SALARIES FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS. 

The inadequacy of salaries paid to teachers in secondary and 
other schools of similar grade led in 1917 to the appointment of a 
departmental committee — 

To inquire into the principles which should determine the fixing of salaries 
for teachers in secondary and technical schools, schools of art, training colleges, 
and other institutions for higher education (other than university institutions), 
due regard being had to such differentiation in respect of locality, duties, 
qualifications, sex, and other relevant circumstances as is consistent with or 
necessary for the organization of teaching service throughout the country -on 
a system conducive to the efficiency of national education. 

The commission, under the chairmanship of Sir H. L. Stephen, 
after taking the evidence of officials of the Board of Education and 
local education authorities, and of teachers and their associations, 
issued its report x in 1918. The report considers the character of the 
different types of institutions involved, discusses the principles 
determining the fixing of salaries, and includes a memorandum on 
the institutions falling Avithin the terms of reference. The chief 
part of the report is devoted to a discussion of salaries in secondary 
schools. The salary question assumes particular importance at a 
time when there is urgent need for attracting and developing a strong 
teaching force. In spite of the fact that the institutions considered 
represent a great degree of variation in sources of maintenance and 
character of government, national standards must be maintained. 
" A national system of education may be indefinitely divided and sub- 
divided; but it must always be regarded as an organic unity the 

1 Report of the departmental committee for inquiring into the principles which should 
determine the fixing of salaries for teachers in secondary and technical schools, schools of 
art, training colleges, and other institutions for higher education (other than university 
institutions), Cd. 9140. Summaries of Evidence, Cd. 9168. (London, 1918.) 



62 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

welfare of which depends upon the welfare of every recognizable 
division or subdivision." The increasing competition with com- 
merce, industry, and the public services, all of which offer better 
opportunities than the teaching profession, which at present holds 
cut prizes only for the few, renders the need of providing attractive 
inducements to prospective candidates more urgent than ever. At 
present, in the secondary schools that come under the survey of the 
Board of Education, only -160 out of the 1,050 institutions have 
established scales of salary. The majority of the 4G0 schools are 
under public authorities, thus leaving a vast number of small en- 
dowed and private schools with inadequate provisions for the finan- 
cial welfare of teachers. 

The advantages of scales of salaries outweigh any disadvantages 
that they may involve. A scale assures to the teachers certain finan- 
cial prospects and defines the liabilities of the school authorities. It 
relieves teachers of the perpetual anxiety of financial embarrassment, 
while securing a larger and better supply of candidates. The chief 
disadvantages, such as the unfairness of treating all teachers alike, 
and the lack of stimulus for the exceptionally able, can be offset by 
introducing elasticity in the administration of the scale and estab- 
lishing posts of responsibility. In order to secure as homogeneous 
a body of teachers as possible for any one branch of education, pos- 
sessing similar qualifications, academic and professional, a national 
scale would be the ideal to be attained. In view of the great varia- 
tions in the organization and administration of schools, the commis- 
sion was not able to advocate a national scale. The units of scales 
must necessarily remain the same, some applying only to a single 
school, others to all the schools maintained by a local authority. A 
national scale prescribed by a central authority would be inconsistent 
with existing arrangements. The imposition of a national scale is 
impossible without a national guarantee, which the commission was 
not empowered to discuss. Of three plans suggested, namely, (1) the 
prescription of a complete scale with initial salary, increments, and 
maximum; (2) the establishment of a minimum initial salary with 
a minimum to be reached at one point at least later in the scale; and 
(3) the prescription of only a minimum salary, the commission se- 
lected and advocated the second. This plan the commission considers 
will provide a certain common measure among all scales, leaving local 
units to frame such steps on the scale and to provide such maxima 
as suit their circumstances. There is very little doubt that this 
recommendation will not be considered satisfactory, and it may be 
pointed out that the commission's suggestion was contrary to the 
opinions presented to it, for "most of the witnesses who have ap- 
peared before us, and have considered this matter, are in favor of such 



EDUCATION" IN" GREAT BRITAIN" AND IRELAND. 63 

a scale (national) being introduced in all secondary schools that re- 
ceive public money." 

In dealing with the question of equal pay for both sexes, for which 
justification may be found by some in the requirement of similar 
qualifications and efficiency from both men and women teachers, and 
in the fact that needs of both may be the same in meeting certain 
personal obligations, in providing for leisure and self-improvement, 
and in saving for old age, the commission is of the opinion that there 
must be differentiation of scales on the basis of sex. At present " a 
salary that will attract a woman will not necessarily attract a man 
of similar qualifications." Since salaries must be sufficiently high 
to attract and retain the services of qualified teachers, the fact must 
be taken into consideration that there are more openings in com- 
merce and industry, and in the professional and public services for 
men than for women, that as a general rule men are likely to give 
longer service, and that, while the prospect of marriage may be the 
same for both sexes marriage for the man implies the assumption of 
new financial responsibilities. The commission considers that " under 
present economic and social conditions the principle of equality of 
pay for the two sexes would lead to the one being underpaid or the 
other overpaid." It is accordingly suggested that scales of salary 
should be approximately the same in the initial stages for both men 
and women, but that differences imposed by differences of economic 
and social status should be introduced at later stages. 

The construction of scales of salary gives rise to the question of 
their length and the frequency of increments. A national scale 
should imply a minimum initial salary rising by annual increments 
to a substantial salary at the age of 32 or 33, and a maximum at the 
age of 42 or 43. It is also suggested that at some intermediate point 
in a scale there should be another minimum that can be attained 
by most teachers. A review of past services is recommended be- 
fore teachers are advanced to the highest point of a scale. The 
initial salary should not be so high as to render the maximum unat- 
tractive, and the maximum should be attainable at an age when it 
will serve to retain experienced teachers, and leave them some years 
for its enjoyment. The increments should be granted automatically, 
subject to satisfactory service and conduct. Where an increment is 
withheld, a teacher should be informed of the cause and be given an 
opportunity to defend himself. In order to meet cases of special 
ability, whether in teaching or administration, scales should be 
sufficiently elastic to enable authorities to offer suitable financial 
recognition of special merit. Additional salaries must be provided 
for assistant principals and heads of departments. Another element 
of flexibility that it may be desirable to consider may arise out of 



64 



BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 



differences in local conditions in such matters as the cost of living 
and rents. Other differentiations that will necessarily arise under 
existing conditions may follow from differences in academic and pro- 
fessional training and length of experience. The commission holds 
that for appointment in a secondary school a university degree and 
one year of professional training are essential. Other matters, such 
as differentiation on the basis of the subject taught, or the char- 
acter or size of a school, should not, in the opinion of the commis- 
sion, lead to variation in scales. So far as possible, in the interests 
of national education, differences between different schools in the 
establishment of salary scales should be eliminated. The commission 
strongly urges the more general establishment of " grace terms " or 
leave of absence on full pay, for purposes of study or research, with- 
out affecting the continuity of the scales or the future prospects of 
teachers. 

These recommendations are not intended to apply to the salaries 
of principals. For these, personal scales reaching a high maximum 
within a short time should be established. Here the size of the school 
and character of the work to be done should be taken into con- 
sideration. The commission wisely deprecates the practice of paying 
principals by capitation fees and the system by which principals 
or assistants make a profit by taking boarders. 

The standards advocated for the establishment of salary scales for 
secondary school teachers are also recommended for the other institu- 
tions that come within the terms of reference, in so far as the same 
qualifications are needed as in the secondary schools. Where special 
factors, such as competition with opportunities in commerce and 
industry in the case of certain teachers in technical and art schools, 
must be taken into account, personal scales are advocated. 

The following is an illustrative scale for assistant masters in 
secondary schools: 



Salaries uf assistant masters in secondary schools. 



Years of service for the 
purposes of the scale. 


Approxi- 
mate 
age. 


Salary. 


Years of service for the 
purposes of the scale. 


Approxi- 
mate 
age. 


Salary. 


1 ... 


22-23 
23-24 
24-25 
25-26 
26-27 
27-28 
28-29 
29-30 
30-31 
31-32 
32-33 
33-34 
34-35 


$900 
950 
1,000 
1,050 
1,100 
1,150 
1,200 
1,275 
1,350 
1,425 
1,500 
1,575 
1,650 


14 


35-36 
36-37 

37-38 
38-39 
39-40 
40-41 
41-42 
42-43 
43-60 


$1,725 




15 


1,800 


:: 


16 


1,875 




17 


1,950 


- s 


18 


2,025 


f . . . . 


19 


2,100 
2,175 




20 


S' 


21 


2,250 




22-28 




10 


Total 




11 




12 




70, 275 


13 .. 






1,850 











EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



65 



The scale here recommended may be compared with the average 
salaries prevalent in two types of secondary schools in receipt of 
grants from the treasury. 

Average salaries in two types of secondary schools. 





Council schools. 


Foundation schools. 


Teachers and principals. 


Number. 


Average 
salary. 


Number. 


Average 
salary. 


Assistant teachers: 


1,655 
2,136 

221 
390 


J835 
635 

1,950 
1,435 


2,275 
1,355 

330 
93 


S875 




625 


Principals: 


2,465 




1,990 







In addition to salary scales, which will probably be put into effect 
under the broad powers intrusted to the Board of Education, sec- 
ondary school-teachers in grant-earning schools are eligible to the 
pension benefits provided under the superannuation act of 1918. 

TEACHERS' SUPERANNUATION ACT OF 1918. 

The urgent need of securing men and women to promote that 
development of education for which the act prepares the way, has 
not only directed attention to the question of salaries, but has 
prompted the Government to introduce a system of pensions for all 
grades of teachers. Whatever may be the result of the recommenda- 
tions of the committees appointed to consider salaries, a pension 
system has already been established by the school-teachers' (super- 
annuation) act, passed in November, 1918. The main purpose of 
the act is to attract men and women to the teaching profession by 
giving them " that sense of elasticity and freedom from care, which 
is essential to the proper discharge of their duties."' By extending 
the benefits of the act to teachers in all schools aided by the State, 
the act will also promote the unity of the profession, and will to this 
extent supplement the efforts of the Teachers' Registration Council. 
Combined with adequate salary scales, the pension system should con- 
tribute to an improvement in the qualifications of teachers. 

The act provides benefits for teachers in all grant-aided institutions 
below the grade of universities or university colleges. These include 
elementary, secondary, and technical schools, training colleges for 
teachers, and other institutions in receipt of aid from the State. 
Teachers will become eligible for the superannuation allowance at 
the age of GO after 30 years of qualifying service, of which at least 
10 years must be recognized service in a grant-aided school. The age 

10C40e°— 19 5 



66 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

of retirement is the same for men and women, but in the ease of 
women who withdraw from service to marry and later return to 
teaching, the period of qualifying service is reduced to 20 years. 
The distinction between qualifying and recognized service permits 
migration to and from grant-aided schools to schools not on the 
grant list, but all service in the following types of schools is ex- 
cluded: (a) Schools conducted for private profit, (b) schools not. 
open to inspection by the Board of Education, and not shown to 
the satisfaction of the board to be efficient; (c) schools able out of 
their own resources to maintain a satisfactory pension scheme, and 
(d) schools which do not satisfy such other conditions as may be 
prescribed as necessary or desirable for securing the public interest. 

The amount of the retirement allowance is one-eightieth of average 
salary for each year of recognized service, or one-half of the average 
salary, whichever is the less. In addition a gratuity will be given 
in a lump sum of one-thirtieth of average salary for each year of 
recognized service, or one and a half times the average salary, which- 
ever is the less. Disability allowances of one-twelfth of average sal- 
ary for each year of recognized service will be paid after 10 years of 
service to teachers incapable of further service by reason of infirmity 
of mind or body. In the case of death after five years of recognized 
service a death gratuity will be paid to the legal representatives of 
a deceased teacher of an amount not exceeding the average salary; 
where a teacher dies after retirement without having received an 
amount equal to his average salary on account of his superannuation 
allowance and the additional allowance, the board may grant to his 
legal representatives a gratuity not exceeding the difference between 
these two sums. 

The act abolishes the deferred annuity system under the acts of 
1898 to 1912, but annuities will be paid in respect to contributions 
already made and teachers are given the option of continuing their 
contributions or of coming under the new scheme. Local pension 
schemes are similarly abolished and contributions are to be returned 
to the teachers, unless they desire to forego the benefits of the act. 

The administration of the act is in the hands of the Board of 
Education, which is empowered to frame rules for this purpose. The 
board may refuse or reduce allowances in cases of misconduct of 
teachers. Its decisions on the application of the act are final. In 
the words of the act : 

Nothing in this act shall give any person an absolute right to any superan- 
nuation allowance or gratuity, and, except as in this act provided, the decision 
of the board on any question which may arise as to, or which may affect, the 
application of the act to any person, or the qualification for any superannua- 
tion allowance or gratuity, or the amount of any superannuation allowance or 
gratuity, or any questions which may arise as to the amount of the average 
salary of any teacher shall be final. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. G7 

In thus establishing a noncontributory pension system Mr. Fisher 
has departed from the tendency which has been very generally ac- 
cepted in the establishment of local pension systems in Great Britain, 
in many parts of the British Empire, and in the United States. It is 
estimated that the cost of the scheme in about 10 years will be 
$10,000,000 a year, but as no actuarial investigation has been made, 
this figure is nothing more than an estimate, which is particularly 
dangerous at a time when salary rates are changing and show an 
upward tendency. However, the Government is protecting itself 
by the provision that there is " no claim to superannuation allowances 
or gratuities as of right." As a measure for meeting the immediate 
demand for teachers the act will undoubtedly serve this purpose, as 
it will also tend to promote unity among teachers, and raise the 
standards of instruction in schools, service in which is excluded under 
the act. The history of other noncontributory pension systems 
does not, however, offer a sound guaranty of the future success of 
the present act. 

ADULT EDUCATION. 

Of the many reports on education that have appeared during the 
war period, none goes more thoroughly into the problem and none 
is more significant than the interim report of the committee on adult 
education, which was appointed by the Minister of Reconstruction, 
" to consider the provision for, and possibilities of, adult education 
(other than technical or vocational) in Great Britain, and to make 
recommendations." Reaching the conclusion that industrial and social 
reforms are necesary to make adult education possible and effective, 
the committee issued the present interim report on industrial and 
social conditions in relation to adult education. 1 

The committee points out that " there is a wide and growing de- 
mand among adults for education of a nonvocational character," 
accompanied among the working classes by considerable suspicion of 
" technical " education. The motives underlying the demand for 
education are based partly " upon a claim for the recognition of 
human personality," partly upon a desire to become " better fitted for 
the responsibilities of membership in political, social, and industrial 
organizations." The new problems that will confront democratic 
societies everywhere in all branches of organized life will demand 
intelligent participation on the part of men and women of all classes, 
and since many of these problems are of such a nature that they can 
be grasped only after experience with the world, the committee is of 
the opinion that "facilities for adult education must therefore bo 
regarded as permanently essential, whatever developments there may 
be in the education of children and adolescents." 

1 Committee on Adult Education, Interim Report. Industrial and Social Conditions in 
Relation to Adult Education. Cd. 9107 (London, 191S). 



68 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

Although a discussion of the question of adult education is re- 
served for a subsequent report, a general survey of the exist- 
ing facilities is presented. These cover a remarkable array of 
activities and include besides the well-known University Extension 
Lecture System, the University Tutorial Class Movement, the Work- 
ers' Educational Association, Euskin College and the Labor College, 
a number of organizations like the Adult School Movement, the 
Cooperative Societies' educational work, working men's colleges, 
clubs, summer courses, and libraries, as well, as the more formal work 
of the local education authorities. The war has stimulated an inter- 
est in the historical background and causes of the war and in the 
problems of reconstruction. But extensive as the facilities have been, 
their reach has not been universal. " What is needed is some organi- 
zation sufficiently comprehensive and systematic to bring facilities 
for higher education within the reach of the inhabitants of every 
town and village in the country." 

The most significant and valuable contribution of the report is 
the analysis of the industrial and social conditions that militate 
against the effectual operation of a system of adult education, how- 
ever well organized and financed. The survey of these conditions 
inevitably leads to recommendations which, if accepted, may alter 
the whole face of industrial and economic life in England. The 
report presents a treatment of educational politics that is altogether 
loo rare and infrequent. Excessive hours of work, overtime, the 
shift system, and night work are all obstacles that must be overcome 
before adequate consideration can be given to the problem referred 
to the committee. " From the point of view of education and of 
participation in public activities (which we regard as one of the 
most valuable means of education)," declares the committee, "we 
are of opinion that one of the greatest needs is the provision of a 
greater amount of leisure time; this is the more necessary because 
of the increasing strain of modern life." A shorter working day 
will go far to protect the worker against the worst consequences of 
monotonous toil, but this should be supplemented by alternating- 
forms of employment and opportunities for the exercise of initiative. 
" The more industry becomes a matter of machinery, the more neces- 
sary it becomes to humanize the working of the industrial system." 
With the improvement of these conditions there still remains the 
problem of coping with heavy and exhausting work, whose depress- 
ing effects can be increasingly counteracted by the introduction of 
mechanical devices, and the prevalence of which, if such conditions 
can not be ameliorated, would not be tolerated in the light of ade- 
quate publicity. The introduction of a reasonable holiday without 
stoppage of pay for all workers in town and country, the committee 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 69 

believes, " would have a beneficial effect upon the national life." 
Finally, the fear of unemployment which — 

hangs like a heavy cloud over so many breadwinners brings a sense of inse- 
curity into the life of the worker and deprives him of all incentives to take 
a whole-hearted interest in the various activities which are a necessary accom- 
paniment of a complete life. 

The progressive increase in productivity that has characterized the 
development of industry in the last generation has resulted in spe- 
cialized, mechanical, and monotonous labor, w 7 ith the consequent 
stunting of the creative impulse and of the spirit of craftsmanship 
and the deprivation of opportunities for self-expression. These con- 
ditions react on human personality in so far as " the present indus- 
trial system offers little opportunity for the satisfaction of the in- 
tellectual, social, and artistic impulses." The committee accordingly 
urges the need for a new industrial outlook: 

Adult education and, indeed, good citizenship, depend in no small degree, 
therefore, upon a new orientation of our industrial outlook and activities. 
Improved conditions and the diffusion of responsibility for the proper conduct 
of industry will strengthen the need for educational opportunities. In so far 
as that need is fulfilled, industry will gain by a more effective " industrial citi- 
zenship," and will itself become more truly educative. Thus increased oppor- 
tunities for adult education and the stimulus of a freer and finer industrial 
environment are correlative and help to develop each other. Education is to 
be measured essentially in terms of intellectual accomplishment, power of 
esthetic appreciation, and moral character, and these have little or no oppor- 
tunity for realization except through a harmonious environment. Nor is the 
environment likely to be substantially modified except in response to the higher 
ideals of social life, stimulated by a more prolonged and widely diffused edu- 
cation. 

Addressing itself to the problem of improving the environment, 
the committee emphasizes the importance of the preparation of 
schemes of housing, town planning, and public health by the cooper- 
ation of experts and representatives of the people for whom such 
schemes are intended, especially women, to whom an adequate 
scheme of housing reform will bring an improvement in conditions 
without which they will be unable to play their new part in public 
affairs. For the improvement of rural life, measures are needed 
beyond the necessary improvement of labor conditions. A com- 
munal organization that will promote vigorous intellectual and 
social life in the country districts is essential. To this end the com- 
mittee recommends the provision of a hall under public control with 
a village institute providing for many-sided activities as the ideal 
to be aimed at. 

In conclusion, the committee is under no delusions as to the possi- 
bility of putting its recommendations into early practice. It does 
draw T attention to the fact that at this turning-point in England's 



70 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1016-1918. 

national history " it is in our power to make the new era one of such 
progress as to repay us even for the immeasurable cost, the price in 
lives lost, in manhood crippled, and in homes desolated." The war 
has generated a new spirit which must be utilized immediately as a 
foundation for the future. 

We have awakened to the splendid qualities that were latent in our people, 
the rank and file of the common people, who before this war were often 
adjudged to be decadent, to have lost their patriotism, their religious faith, and 
their response to leadership ; we were even told they were physically degen- 
erate. Now we see what potentialities lie in this people and what a charge lies 
upon us to give these powers free play. There is stirring through the whole 
country a sense of the duty we owe to our children, and to our grandchildren 
to save them not only from the repetition of such a world war and from the 
burdens of a crushing militarism, but to save them also from the obvious peril 
of civil dissension at home. We owe it also to our own dead that they shall not 
have died in vain, hut that their sacrifice shall prove to have created a better 
England for the future generation. 

EDUCATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION AND PUBLIC OPINION. 

The dislocation caused in the social, economic, and educational 
life of the country by the outbreak of the Avar has already been men- 
tioned. For a time events of larger moment that were happening in 
France tended to overshadow the discussion of domestic problems. 
In the attempts to understand the German enigma, however, it was 
inevitable that attention should be turned to the German educational 
system and that comparisons should be instituted between that and 
the English. It was not many months before a fierce controversy 
broke out between the classicists and the scientists in which the advo- 
cates of modern language studies soon joined. But the dissatisfac- 
tion that began to find voice was not confined to higher education ; 
it spread very naturally to the elementary schools and expressed 
itself in criticism of the school attendance regulations, of the early 
exemptions, of the lack of advanced work in the upper grades, and 
particularly of the absence of provision for the large class of boys 
and girls who are allowed to drift after leaving the elementary 
schools. The dissatisfaction and criticism were not new; they had 
already been heard before the war; but as soon as it became clear that 
the war was one of conflicting ideals, they received at once a new 
stimulus and a new focus or objective. The shortcomings of English 
education began to be measured by their adequacy for training 
healthy, moral, and intelligent citizens of a democracy. In dis- 
cussing the " Outlook for 1911 " the Times Educational Supplement 
in January of that year wrote : 

Like English poetry and English painting, our education is astir with new 
ideas. These new ideas are not all of one pattern, but often discordant with 
one another, the offspring of different stocks, and as diverse as the roots from 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 71 

which they spring, though novel in theix' combinations and sometimes one-sided 
in their emphasis. 

The war helped to furnish a rallying and unifying point for the 
new ideas and stimulated a widespread interest in education which 
was not present even three months before the outbreak of the war, 
and certainly not in 1911, when Mr. Rimciman presented the school 
and continuation class attendance bill, or when the several efforts 
were made to abolish the half-time system. 

It was less than a year after England's entrance into the war when 
discontent and criticism began to make way for the. discussion of a 
constructive program. In May, 1915, the Times Educational Supple- 
ment propounded the question, " How can the educational institu- 
tions of the country be molded and developed to fit the childhood of 
the nation to meet wisely the problems of the Great Peace ? " and in 
the same month Mr. Pease, shortly before retiring from the office of 
president of the Board of Education, emphasized the urgent need 
of longer schooling, greater opportunities, and closer relations be- 
tween scientific research and industry. It began to be generally ac- 
cepted that the appointed hour for reform had arrived. " If we are 
to face the future with any confidence after this exhausting war," 
wrote the Times, "we must face it as an educated people. We shall 
not be able to afford to waste the efficiency of a single English child."' 
By the close of 1915 the reform movement was in full swing, and by 
the middle of the following year the Times was able to report that 
" it is certain that there is not now a place in England where educa- 
tional affairs are considered that is not agog with the demand for 
reform." 

The consideration of plans for educational reconstruction was not 
confined to the teaching profession. The problem occupied the atten- 
tion of leaders of the working classes, local and national trade-union 
bodies, manufacturers and employers, and the public in general. 
Early in 1916, the Athenaeum, hitherto devoted almost exclusively 
to literature, changed its character and dedicated its pages to the 
consideration of the broader phases of reconstruction. Later in the 
same year the Times Educational Supplement, until then a monthly 
magazine, decided to appear weekly " in the hope of enabling the pub- 
lic, which is now bent upon educational reform, to take an instructed 
part in the process." 

The Trade-Union Congress, meeting in Birmingham early .in Sep- 
tember, 1916, passed resolutions protesting against the employment 
of children in agricultural work, factories, and workshops, and 
against any reduction in the expenditure on education, and pledged 
itself to support all measures to secure a higher standard of educa- 
tion for all children. The British Labor Party, in the program of 
reconstruction issued at the close of 1917, emphasized the demands 



72 BIENNIAL SURVEY OE EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

for health, leisure, education, and subsistence, and urged the appli- 
cation of national funds " for the education alike of children, of adoles- 
cents, and of adults, in which the labor party demands a genuine 
equality of opportunity, overcoming all differences of material cir- 
cumstances." The general secretary of the Workers' Educational 
Association. Mr. J. M. Mactavish, had already given a more detailed 
definition of these demands in a pamphlet on What Labor Wants 
from Education: 

Labor wants from education health and full development for the mind, fine- 
ness for the feelings, good will toward its kind, and, coupled with this liberal 
education, such a training as will make its members efficient, self-supporting 
citizens of a free self-governing community. Such an education and only such 
an education will meet the needs of the individual, the class, the nation, and 
the race. 

Mr. Fisher, appreciating the influence of labor in the development 
of public opinion on education, paid a tribute to the leaders in the 
introduction to his Educational Reform Speeches. 1 " The leaders 
of the labor world, having discovered education some time since, are 
now communicating the message to those below." 

To these expressions of faith on behalf of labor there deserve to bo 
added the views of the more enlightened employers. After the 
introduction of Mr. Fisher's first bill Messrs. Tootal, Broadhurst, Lee 
Co. (Ltd.), of Manchester and London, issued four pamphlets 2 
urging the support of the bill. The platform that they insisted upon 
was the following: 

We believe that the vast majority of the nation favor the main proposals 
of the new education bill, viz, 1. Whole-time education up to the age of 14. 
2. Compulsory part-time education up to 18. 

Over and above these proposals a straight road to the university should be 
open to those who desire the fullest development of their intellect. Only by 
such provision for complete knowledge of the arts and sciences can we as a 
nation maintain our place in the world. 

It is important for the opponents of the bill to realize that the two proposals 
we have mentioned are regarded by educationists as merely a first step to 
a real system of democratic education. 

They are by no means exhorbitant proposals. They represent in fact a 
minimum of democracy's demand for a fuller life. They do nothing more than 
give a reasonable chance to the children of this country to make the best of 
themselves. 

Local reconstruction committees began to be formed and a large 
number of professional associations devoted themselves to the task 
of drafting plans of reforms, while the daily press gave increasing 
attention to the subject. " Nothing has been more remarkable," said 

1 Fisher, H. A. L. Educational' Reform Speeches (Oxford, 1918). 

2 These appeared first as advertisements in the country's press. They were published 
under the title " The Great Decision," and included four pamphlets : Now or Never, Our 
Success or Failure, A Just Complaint, and A First Step. Messrs. Cadbury, of Bourn- 
ville, followed a similar policy. 



EDUCATION IN" GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 73 

Mr. Fisher in introducing his first educational estimate in 1917, " than 
the attention which has recently been paid, both in the public press 
and on public platforms, to the subject of education." 

Among the professional associations the following issued proposals 
for educational reconstruction : 

Assistant Masters Association (Educational Policy). 

Directors and Secretaries for Education (Toward an Educational Policy). 
Teachers of Domestic Subjects (Memorandum). 
Education Committees (Report of Executive). 
Education Officers' Association (Policy). 
Education Reform Council (Education Reform). 
Headmasters' Association (Educational Policy). 
Headmistresses Conference. 
British Science Guild (National Education). 
Teachers' Registration Council (Resolutions). 
Technical Institutions Association. 

Workers' Educational Association (Educational Reconstruction). 
National Union of Teachers (Educational Progress). 

London County Council Education Committee (Education after the War — 
Government Grants and Educational Development). 

The suggestions and recommendations of some of these bodies re- 
ceived wide publicity and consideration. Many of these recommen- 
dations, as well as the proposals contained in a draft bill, which 
appeared in the Times Educational Supplement of March 15, 1917, 
were embodied in the act as finally passed. 

The Government in the meantime was not neglecting the subject 
of education. It was recognized that the reform of education could 
not be considered in isolation but must fit in with the general plan 
for national reconstruction. The subject of reconstruction was for 
a time intrusted to a committee consisting of members of the Cabinet, 
but it soon became clear that such a committee could not devote to 
the problem the attention that it deserved. In March, 1917, a new 
committee of reconstruction was appointed with the Prime Minister 
as chairman and Mr. E. S. Montague as executive head. Four months 
later the province of the committee was further expanded and under 
the new ministries act of 1917 a ministry of reconstruction was estab- 
lished. According to the Report of the War Cabinet, for 1917, 
page xix — - 

The scope of its activities covers almost every branch of the national life. 
It has been concerned not only with the problems which will arise immediately 
on the return of peace, such as the demobilization of the armies and reconver- 
sion to peace production of many industries now making war material ; it has 
also to consider education, the supply and distribution of raw material, a great 
scheme for the better housing of the people both in town and country, labor 
and industrial problems, transportation, national health, and so forth. 

For a time it was expected that a royal commission would be ap- 
pointed to consider proposals for educational reform, but at the end 



74 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

of June, 1916, it was announced that the problem of education would 
come within the scope of the cabinet committee of reconstruction. 
Education, however, constituted but one of 15 different branches of 
activities, the consideration of which was intrusted to 87 distinct 
committees. 1 It was clear that even the adoption of this course would 
involve delay, and it does not appear that this plan was eventually 
carried out, with the exception that a number of separate problems 
were left for consideration by the section of the Ministry of Recon- 
struction in charge of education. The following committees were 
established and placed under this ministry (the appointing authori- 
ties and the dates of the reports, if they have already been issued, 
are given in parentheses) : 

Royal Commission on University Education in Wales. (The Crown; Cd. 

8991 and Cd. 8993; 1918.) 
Adult Education Committee. (Ministry of Reconstruction; Cd. 9107; 191S.) 
Committee on Juvenile Education in Relation to Employment after the War. 

(Board of Education ; Cd. S512 and Cd. 8577; 1917.) 
Committee on the Teaching of Modern Languages. (The Prime Minister ; Cd. 

9036; 1918.) 
Committee on the Teaching of Science. (The Prime Minister; Cd. 9011; 

1918.) 
Committee on Principles of Arrangements Determining Salaries of Teachers 

in Elementary Schools. (Board of Education; Cd. S939 ; 191S.) - 
Committee on Principles of Arrangement, Determining Salaries of Teachers 

in Secondary, Technical, etc., Schools. (Board of Education; Cd. 9140; 
191S.) 
Juvenile Organizations Committee. (Home Office.) 

It will be seen that most of these committees have already reported, 
and an account of these reports is given elsewhere. 

The Government had also entered upon new developments in 
another direction — the promotion of scientific and industrial research. 
In 1915, under a scheme for the organization and development of 
scientific and industrial research (Cd. 8005, 1915), there were estab- 
lished a committee of the Privy Council responsible for expenditure 
of any new moneys provided by Parliament for such research, and a 
small advisory council composed of eminent men of science and 
others actually engaged in industries dependent upon scientific coop- 
eration. On December 1, 1910, the committee and council were re- 
placed by a Department of Scientific and Industrial Eesearch. The 
object of this new development is indicated in the statement that : 

It appears incontrovertible thatif we are to advance or even maintain our 
industrial position, we must as a nation aim at such a development of scientific 
and industrial research as will place us in a position to expand and strengthen 
our industries and to compete successfully with the most highly organized of 
our rivals. 

1 Ministry of Reconstruction. A list of commissions and committees set up to deal 
with questions which will arise at the close of the war. Cd. 8910. (London, 1918.) 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN" AND IRELAND. 75 

The scope of the department's activities is to consider — 

(1) Proposals for instituting scientific researches; (2) proposals for estab- 
lishing or developing special institutions or departments of existing institu- 
tions for the scientific study of problems affecting particular industries and 
trades; (3) the establishment and award of research studentships and fellow- 
ships. 

The department has begun active cooperation with scientific soci- 
eties, institutions, trades, and industries, and has already stimulated 
the establishment of research associations maintained by local indus- 
tries either independently or in cooperation with local universities. 
The task devolving as a consequence upon members of the depart- 
ment is thus described in the scheme under which the original com- 
mittee and advisory council were established: 

A large part of their work will be that of examining, selecting, combining, 
and coordinating, rather than of originating. One of the chief functions will 
be the prevention of overlapping between institutions or individuals engaged 
in research. They will, on the other hand, be at liberty to institute inquiries 
preliminary to preparing or eliciting proposals for useful research, and in this 
way they may help to concentrate on problems requiring solution the interest 
of all persons concerned in the development of all branches of scientific 
industry. 

The establishment of the department represents the realization of 
sialic of the proposals and recommendations made by the committee 
to inquire into the position of natural science. 

Associated with this movement is the report of the subcommittee 
on relations between employers and employed on joint standing in- 
dustrial councils (Cd. 860G, 1917). This report, more generally 
known as the Whitley Committee Report, is not directly educational, 
but in its development it will exercise a tremendous influence in ex- 
panding the scope of education for the working classes. The com- 
mittee recommends the establishment of national, district, and works 
committees or councils, consisting of representatives of employers 
and employees, and of the associations of the former and trades- 
unions of the latter. 

The object is to secure cooperation by granting to workpeople a greater 
share in the consideration of matters affecting their industry, and this can 
only be achieved by keeping employers and workpeople in constant touch. 

Among some of the questions that the committee suggests for the 
consideration of such councils are (1) the better utilization of the 
practical knowledge and experience of workpeople; (2) technical 
training and education; (3) industrial research and the full utiliza- 
tion of the results; (1) the provision of facilities for the full con- 
sideration and utilization of inventions and improvements designed 
by workpeople, and for adequate safeguarding of the rights of de- 
signers of such improvements; and (5) improvements of processes, 



76 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

machinery, and organization and appropriate questions referring to 
the management and the examination of industrial experiments, 
with special reference to cooperation in carrying new ideas into 
effect and full consideration of the. point of view of the employees 
with reference to them. The educational implications are obvious. 
If the. working classes are to avail themselves of the new position 
with which they will be endowed by the establishment of councils, 
they must also avail themselves of all the educational opportunities 
that the Nation can put at their disposal. The burden is thus placed 
finally on the Nation to provide as extensive facilities as possible to 
equip every boy and girl for the new industrial conditions. Many 
industrial councils have already been established, and for educa- 
tional administration it is significant that teachers are demanding the 
setting up of joint councils representing the active teaching profes- 
sion and the education committees that employ them. 

Finally, it would be equally impossible to leave out of an account 
of the social background that led up to the education act reference 
to the passing of the Representation of the People Act early in 1918, 
which extends the franchise to about two million additional male 
and six million new female voters. It is estimated that the numbers 
of persons qualified under the act to vote is about one-third of the 
population, or about ten million men and six million women. At 
the same time the university franchise has been extended and the 
number of seats in the House of Commons raised by redistribution 
from 070 to 707. Again, as throughout the nineteenth century, 
every extension of the franchise has been followed, very closely in the 
present case, by an extension of educational opportunities. It is 
inevitable that the evolution of political democracy should be accom- 
panied by the expansion of a democratic system of education, for 
" the same logic which leads us to desire an extension of the fran- 
chise points also to an extension of education." 

By the close of 1916 the stage was set for the introduction of the 
proposals for educational reconstruction. The problem had been 
canvassed from every direction and every point of view. The mental 
attitude that then separated the ultimate conception of the problem 
from the conception of the education problem in 1902 and 1906 
could hardly be measured by the number of years that separated 
the two periods. The denominational question has, as Lord Haldane 
had predicted earlier, vanished in comparison with the really vital 
problems; the nation was united in conceiving the task of educational 
reform in the terms so appropriately set forth by the departmental 
committee on juvenile education in relation to employment after 
the war. 

Any inquiry into education at the present juncture is big with issues of na- 
tional fate. In the great work of reconstruction which lies ahead there are 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 77 

aims to be set before us which will try, no less searchingly than war itself, 
the temper and enduring qualities of our race; and in the realization of each 
and all of these, education, with its stimulus and its discipline, must be our 
stand-by. We have to perfect the civilization for which our men have shed 
their blood and our women their tears - ; to establish new standards of value 
in our judgment of what makes life worth living, more wholesome and more 
restrained ideals of behavior and recreation, finer traditions, of cooperation 
and kindly fellowship between class and class and between man and man. 
We have to restore the natural relations between the folk and the soil from 
which the folk derives its sustenance, to revivify with fresh scientific methods 
and better economic conditions the outworn practice of our agriculture, to 
learn over again that there is no greater public benefactor than the man who 
makes two ears of corn to grow where but one grew before. We have to 
bring research to bear upon the processes of our manufactures, to overhaul 
routine and eliminate waste, to carry our reputation for skillful workmanship 
and honest and intelligent trafficking into new markets and to maintain it 
in the old. These are tasks for a nation of trained character and robust 
physique, a nation alert to the things of the spirit, reverential of knowledge, 
reverential of its teachers, and generous in its estimate of what the production 
and maintenance of good teachers inevitably cost. W T hether we are to be such 
a nation must now depend largely upon the will of those who have fought for 
us, and upon the conception which they have come to form of what education 
can do in the building up and glorifying of national life. For ourselves, we 
are content to leave it to that arbitrament. 

The recommendations of this committee were generally accepted 
as furnishing the framework for the educational legislation that was 
expected. (See p. 23.) 

It was under these conditions that Mr. H. A. L. Fisher was ap- 
pointed president of the Board of Education in December, 1916. His 
appointment was greeted with universal approval. It was an ap- 
pointment in which mere political considerations were subordinated 
to the great needs of the hour and of the office. In Mr. Fisher's 
nomination the presidency of the Board of Education was filled by 
a man eminently equipped for the position, and not by a rising poli- 
tician for whom the Board of Education was to serve merely as a 
temporary stepping stone on the road to higher office. Mr. Fisher 
combines distinction as a scholar in his chosen field of history with 
an interest in popular education. His fellowship at New College, 
Oxford, had given him an experience with the problems of higher 
education that he was beginning to apply to the needs of one of the 
youngest universities. As vice-chancellor of the University of Shef- 
field he was inevitably brought into touch with needs and the de- 
mands of popular education. His grasp of the task to which he was 
called was strengthened by membership on a number of the commis- 
sions and committees to which reference has been made. The confi- 
dence of the country in his ability to carry out the task to a sucessful 
conclusion was soon to be justified by Mr. Fisher's success in pre- 
senting the problem to Parliament and to the country, and by his 



78 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

adroit handling of all the obstacles and difficulties that stood in hi3 
way in spite of the readiness of the country for the reform proposal-. 
Mr. Fisher at once addressed himself to the solution of the prob- 
lem intrusted to him. In February, 1917, he issued a stirring appeal, 
Sursum Corda, to the teachers of the country, in which he reminded 
them that : 

The proclamation of peace and victory in the field will summon us not t > 
complacent repose, but to greater efforts for a more enduring victory. The 
future welfare of the Nation depends upon its schools. 

On April 19, 1917, he had an opportunity of testing the new faith 
of the country in education, when he introduced the education esti- 
mates in the House of Commons. The task of demanding from Par- 
liament an increase for 1917-18 of more than $19,000,000 over the, 
estimate for the previous year, was one that would have deterred a 
parliamentarian of longer experience than Mr. Fisher, but the Parlia- 
ment of a country that was then spending about $35,000,000 a day 
on the work of destruction could not well refuse its consent to in- 
creased estimates for education : 

So that the foundations may be laid for a fabric of national education worthy 
of the genius and heroism of our people and a fitting monument of the great 
impulse which is animating the whole nation during the war. 

The chief part of the increase was to be devoted to securing " the 
first condition of educational advance," the better payment of teach- 
ers, to the importance of which Mr. Fisher referred in the words : 

I do not expect the teaching profession to offer great material rewards — 
that is impossible ; but I do regard it as essential to a good scheme of educa- 
tion that teachers should be relieved from perpetual financial anxieties, and 
that those teachers who marry should be able to look forward to rearing a 
family in respectable conditions. An anxious and depressed teacher is a bad 
teacher; an embittered teacher is a social danger. 

In the course of his speech Mr. Fisher foreshadowed the nature 
of the bill that he was shortly to introduce: 

The object which we are all striving to attain is \evy simple. We do not 
want to waste a single child. We desire that every child in the country should 
receive the form of education most adapted to fashion its qualities to the 
highest use. This will mean that every type and grade of school in the country 
must be properly coordinated. It will mean that the county authorities, 
either separately or combined together in provincial committees, should make 
complete and progressive schemes for education in their respective areas, so 
that adequate and systematic provision may be made not only for the ele- 
mentary, but also for technical, commercial, and secondary education of tho 
children in the district. 

The unanimity with which the increased expenditure for educa- 
tion was received prepared the way for the education bill, which Mr, 
Fisher introduced on August 10, 1917. " The bill," said Mr. Fisher, 
" is prompted by deficiencies which have been revealed by the war ; 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 79 

it is framed to repair the intellectual wastage which has been caused 
by the war."' 

Into the details of the bill it is unnecessary to go; the causes of op- 
position to it are given in another section. But its introduction 
afforded Mr. Fisher another opportunity of declaring his educational 
faith. Striking throughout was his appreciation of the views of the 
leaders of the labor world : 

I notice also that a new way of thinking about education has sprung up 
among more reflecting members of our industrial army. They do not want 
education in order that they may rise out of their own class, always a vulgar 
ambition ; they want it because they know that, in the treasures of the mind, 
they can find an aid to good citizenship, a source of pure enjoyment, and a 
refuge from the necessary hardships of a life spent in the midst of clanging 
machinery in our hideous cities of toil. 

The conclusion of his speech furnishes an admirable summary of 
the newly born recognition of the place of education in the national 
life: 

We assume that education is one of the good things of life which should be 
more widely shared than has hitherto been the case amongst the children and 
young persons of the country. We assume that education should be the educa- 
tion of the whole man, spiritually, intellectually, and physically, and that it 
is not beyond the resources of civilization to devise a scheme of education 
possessing certain common qualities, but admitting at the same time of large 
variation from which the whole youth of the country, male and female, may 
derive benefit. We assume that the principles upon which well-to-do parents 
proceed in the education of their families are valid also, mutatis mutandis, 
for the families of the poor; that the State has need to secure for its juvenile 
population conditions under which mind, body, and Aaracter may be harmo- 
niously developed. We feel also that in the existing circumstances the life of 
the rising generation can only be protected against the injurious effects of 
industrial pressure by a further measure of State compulsion. But we argue 
that the compulsion proposed in this bill will be no sterilizing restriction of 
wholesome liberty, but an essential condition of a larger and more enlightened 
freedom, which will tend to stimulate civic spirit, to promote general culture 
and technical knowledge, and to diffuse a steadier judgment and a better in- 
formed opinion through the whole body of the community. 

The closing months of the year were spent by Mr. Fisher in touring 
the country, particularly the manufacturing centers, for purposes of 
propaganda. Many employers had still to be won over to the idea 
of compulsory continuation schools; and much opposition had de- 
veloped against the bill among those concerned with the administra- 
tion of education. Deputations had to be met, compromises con- 
sidered, and the bill so amended that it would in effect become an 
accepted bill on its introduction. The first bill was withdrawn in 
January of 1918, and a new one took its place, with the elimination 
of those features to which objections had been raised. In introducing 
the second reading of the new bill on March 14, 1918, Mr. Fisher 
continued to maintain the high standards of statesmanship that 



80 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

marked his speeches on the first bill. His final plea for the passage 
of the bill will probably rank as the clearest and most far-sighted 
analysis of England's need for educational reform that has been made 
in the course of the last four years: 

Tlie broad question before tbe House is wbether the education provided for 
the general mass of our young citizens is adequate to our needs. We have been 
asking them to fight and work for their country, we have been asking them to 
die for their country, to economize for their country, to go short of food for 
their country, to work overtime for their country, to abandon trade-union rules 
for their country, to be patient while towns are bombed from enemy aircraft, 
and family after family is plunged in domestic sorrow. We have now decided 
to enfranchise for the first time the women of this country. I ask then 
whether the education which is given to the great mass of our young citizens 
is adequate to the new, serious, and enduring liabilities which the develop- 
ment of this great world war created for our Empire, or to the new civic 
burdens which we are imposing upon millions of our peoples. I say it is not 
adequate. I believe it is our duty here and now to improve our system of 
education, and I hold that, if we allow our vision to be blurred by a catalogue 
of passing inconveniences, we shall not only lose a golden opportunity, but fail 
in our great trust to posterity. 

These words furnished a fitting climax to the campaign of nearly 
four years to change the opinion of a country from apathetic in- 
difference to education to the stage Avhere almost the only criticisms 
of the act which stands to Mr. Fisher's credit come from those who 
feel that it does not go far enough. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EDUCATION ACT, 19 18. 1 

By the enactment on August 8 of the Fisher education bill the 
first step has been made toward the realization of the program of 
social and economic reconstruction that is to follow the war in 
England. For the reform of the English educational system, and 
of the Scottish system which is being provided for separately (see 
pp. llOff), is but part of the larger task that has been intrusted to such 
bodies as the Ministry of Reconstruction or the Department on Scien- 
tific and Industrial Research. Without the sound foundations laid 
in the earlier years of school life, any recommendations that such 
bodies may make on adult education, public health, physical train- 
ing, unemployment, juvenile employment and apprenticeship, or 
cooperation between science and industry would inevitably remain 
nothing more than pious hopes. Educational reform in England 
to-day is also inevitably associated with the recent extension of the 
franchise, and indirectly will have some bearing on the recommenda- 
tions of the Whitley committee. Nor can the act be considered 
apart from the administrative changes already made by the Board 

1 This section, with the exception of some additions, appeared in the Educational Re- 
view, December, 1918, and is here reprinted by the courtesy of the editor. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 81 

of Education, such as the regulations for advanced courses and 
examinations in secondary schools, from the Superannuation Act 
passed in November, 1918, or apart from departmental reports such 
as those on salaries for elementary and secondary school teachers, 
on the teaching of modern languages, or on the position of natural 
science in the schools. The quickened recognition by the public of 
the essential function of education in national life must also be taken 
into account as one of the assets for the future. Public interest and 
support have acquired an impetus from the conditions and realiza- 
tions arising out of the war that has made possible such educational 
progress within one year as could in normal times not have been 
achieved in less than a generation. The sacrifices and public burdens 
undertaken by teachers of all grades throughout the country have 
given them a repute and status that they have not hitherto enjoj^ed, 
and it will result in substantial improvement of their material 
position. The outlook of the local educational authorities has also 
been deeply affected by the urgent necessity of giving much closer 
attention than ever before to the educational problems under adverse 
conditions. Finally, although little is as yet known about its effects, 
the educational activities undertaken with the army will undoubtedly 
have a healthy reaction on that public opinion without which edu- 
cational progress is impossible. 

It is too often forgotten in recent discussions of English education 
that the train for " a comprehensive and progressive improvement of 
the educational system" had already been laid before the Avar in the 
budget speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on May 4, 1914. 
The act accordingly does not constitute a revolution in English edu- 
cation. It represents the normal development whose evolution has 
been hastened by the favorable conditions already described. After 
the satisfactory reception of the estimates for the Board of Educa- 
tion, introduced by Mr. Fisher in April, 1917, and calling for an 
increase of more than $18,000,000 over the estimates of the previous 
financial year, the passage, of an education bill to meet the new 
demands, as formulated by numerous education authorities and asso- 
ciations of lay and professional men and women, was a foregone 
conclusion. Mr. Fisher's first essay, however, a bill which he intro- 
duced in August, 1917, was from the first condemned to failure be- 
cause it exceeded these suggestions and recommendations and because 
it was suspected of being an attempt to conceal a scheme for cen- 
tralized control over education, behind a large number of measures 
otherwise acceptable. While the country was ready and willing to sur- 
render its rights to the National Government in the interests of the con- 
duct of the war, it did not show itself so amenable in accepting what 
might prove to be a bureaucratic and centralized system of educational 
10640G — 19 6 



82 BIENNIAL SUEVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

administration for all time. The education authorities were up in arms 
against the administrative measures and indicated in no uncertain 
terms their refusal to countenance any education bill at all that 
threatened their liberties or might interfere with local initiative and 
variety. In every case the administrative discretion of the Board of 
Education has been surrounded by limitations. Clause 4 of the 
first bill, which gave the board the final word in the approval or 
rejection of schemes submitted by the local education authorities, 
now becomes clause 5, and a definite procedure has been established 
in cases of conflict between a local education authority and the 
board, with final power vested in Parliament. The old clause 5, 
which provided for the combination of local areas into provincial 
associations in accordance with Lord Haldane's proposals, has been 
dropped altogether, and the same fate met the old clause 29, which 
would have permitted the board to transfer the smaller to larger edu- 
cational areas. Clause 38 in the original bill also disappears and 
with it any danger that the board would become the final authority 
in cases of dispute with local authorities. Finally, the old clause 40 
now becomes clause 44, and the indefinite provisions for national 
grants to education are replaced by a definite undertaking that these 
shall amount to not less than one-half of the local expenditure. A 
few additions and amendments have been made, in each case extend- 
ing rather than limiting the powers of local authorities. 

The general structure of the educational system remains the same 
as under the provisions of the Education Act of 1902, 1 that is, the 
responsible authorities for elementary and higher education consist 
of counties and county borough councils, and for elementary educa- 
tion of the councils of noncounty boroughs and urban districts. The 
relation of the Board of Education to the local education authorities 
continues as hitherto with the broad exception that it now has the 
power of approving or rejecting schemes " for the progressive de- 
velopment and comprehensive organization of education " that may 
be submitted to it by the local education authorities. In cases of con- 
flict between the board and a local authority the act provides for a 
conference or public inquiry, and in the last resort the submission of 
a report to Parliament with reasons for any action taken by the 
board. The grants from the national exchequer have been consoli- 
dated and will in the future be dependent on the approval by the 
board of such progressive and comprehensive schemes of education 
in a local area. The act abolishes the fee, the aid, and the small 
population grants, and provides that the consolidated grant shall be 
not less than one-half of the expenditure of a local authority. By 
this means the board will have the power of requiring, among other 

1 For a detailed statement see Kandel, I. L. Elementary Education in England. U. S. 
Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1913, No. 57. 



EDUCATION 1ST GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 83 

things, the efficient administration of school attendance, the satisfac- 
tory provision of elementary continuation and secondary schools, the 
maintenance of adequate and suitable teaching staffs, and the pro- 
vision of adequate systems of medical inspection and treatment. 
For the first time in the history of English education the national 
authorities are placed by the act in a position to secure full informa- 
tion as to the provision of education throughout the country, the re- 
sponsibility of furnishing such information being placed upon the 
schools. Under other provisions the board is empowered on request 
to inspect schools not already on its grant list and with local educa- 
tion authorities to inspect schools that desire to qualify as efficient for 
the purposes of securing exemptions from attendance at public ele- 
mentary or continuation schools. The effect of these measures, com- 
bined with the indirect influence of the qualifications required of 
teachers for registration with the Teachers' Registration Council, 
will have an incalculable effect in raising the standards of private 
schools, and at the same time safeguarding their status. Room will 
thus be found under the national system for public and private 
schools, schools established and maintained entirely by the public 
authorities, and nonprovided schools, or those established by denomi- 
national bodies but maintained out of public funds. Such a scheme 
under the wise direction and advice of the Board of Education will 
secure that variety and initiative on which the English system is 
founded, while the new method of allocating grants will furnish the 
necessary encouragement for the rapid expansion of the system. It 
is significant that for the first time in English history the act speaks 
of the development of a national system of public education. By 
bringing the private schools into more effective relations with public 
education England will present an example of a national system in 
which public and private effort cooperate to the larger end. 

The responsibility for "the progressive development and compre- 
hensive organization of education " is intrusted to the county authori- 
ties in all matters pertaining to elementary, secondary, and higher 
education. The noncounty boroughs and the urban districts have 
the same responsibility only in relation to elementary education, 
which is now considerably expanded in conception. Provision is 
made, however, for cooperation between the two types of authorities, 
and also for the federation of any two educational areas for coopera- 
tive purposes under joint bodies of managers, including teachers and 
representatives of universities. Under the extended powers of the 
act, education authorities now become the responsible authorities for 
the administration of the Employment of Children Act, 1903, the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1904, and the Children Act, 
1908. Further, for the promotion of physical and social training, 
education authorities may maintain and equip holiday camps, centers 



84 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

for recreation and physical training, playing fields, school baths, 
and swimming baths and other facilities in addition to the system 
of medical inspection and treatment. Finally, the limit hitherto im- 
posed on the amount that could be raised by county authorities for 
secondary and higher education is removed. The duty is imposed 
on local education authorities to draft schemes for their areas after 
due consideration of existing facilities, public or private, and of the 
possible advantages of cooperation. Since the new system of grants 
will be based on the adequacy of a scheme as a whole, it will effectu- 
ally check the development of schemes that are not comprehensive. 
Here again the Board of Education will act in an advisory capacity, 
and the responsibility for the development of local initiative and 
progress is placed on the local education authorities and so on the 
public in whose interests schools are maintained. The withholding 
of grants and the power of the board to conduct public inquiries, the 
reports of which may be laid before Parliament, are effective meas- 
ures for dealing with recalcitrant authorities. 

While the improvement of the administrative organization of edu- 
cation constitutes one of the purposes of the act, it is not in any way 
its main purpose. Primarily, the act represents the new democracy 
rising to a recognition of the function of education in preparing 
healthy, intelligent, and responsible citizens. The advancement of 
the physical welfare of the nation, with the promotion of educational 
opportunities, constitutes the chief objects of the act. As at the time 
of the South African War, so at this crisis, recruiting of soldiers has 
revealed the great extent of physical deficiencies in the country; at 
the same time a better chance for survival is to be furnished to every 
child in order to repair the physical wastage of the war. An already 
excellent system of school medical inspection and a developing sys- 
tem of medical treatment are extended by the act. In the schools 
for mothers training is given in prenatal care and the care of infant 
children. From the age of 2 to 5 or G, children may attend nursery 
schools where attention will be devoted primarily to their "health, 
nourishment, and physical welfare." In the elementary schools the. 
existing regulations for school medical inspection and treatment will 
apply, with the probability that more effective provision of the latter 
will be required under the procedure by schemes. By the provisions 
of the new act, local education authorities are empowered to extend 
this system of medical inspection and treatment to pupils in secondary 
and continuation schools maintained by them, and even in schools 
not aided by them, if so requested. Since the National Insurance Act 
applies to employed persons from the age of 16 up, the great ma- 
jority of citizens in Pmgland and Wales will be under an effective 
system of medical supervision throughout their lives. At the same 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 85 

time local authorities are required to ascertain the number of physi- 
cally defective and epileptic children and make such provision for 
their education as they are already required to make for mental de- 
fectives under the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic 
Children) Acts, 189.9 to 1914. 

These measures for the prevention and cure of disease are sup- 
plemented by positive measures for the promotion of health through 
physical training, which is to form an even more important part of 
the curriculum of elementary, continuation, and secondary schools 
than ever before. The power granted to authorities to supply or 
maintain holiday or school camps, centers and equipment for physi- 
cal training, playing fields, school baths, school swimming baths, and 
" other facilities for social and physical training in the day or even- 
ing " has already been referred to. Before the passing of the act the 
Government had already inaugurated the practice of financially 
assisting local authorities in the appointment of play supervisors 
and in the maintenance of evening recreation centers. By these 
measures provision is made for social and moral training as well as 
physical. Mr. Fisher allayed the fear that an opportunity would be 
seized to expand physical training to cover military training. He 
agreed that — 

it would be entirely inappropriate to take advantage of an education bill 
to introduce such a very radical alteration in our scheme of education as the 
introduction of compulsory military training in schools. So far as he knew 
their mind, the war office bad no desire whatever to see military training in 
the continuation schools given to young people in this country. The interest 
of the war office was that young boys, when they reached the military age of 
18, should be in fit physical condition. It was only after they had reached 
18 that formal instruction under the war office began. 

The control of child labor, which constitutes the greatest menace 
to physical welfare, is now placed in the hands of the education 
authorities. No child of school age will be permitted to be employed 
on any school day or on any day before 6 o'clock in the morning ^>r 
after 8 o'clock in the evening or for more than two hours on Sunday. 
By an unfortunate concession, local authorities may by by-laws per- 
mit the employment of children over 12 for one hour before and 
one hour after school. Street trading by children is prohibited, and 
restrictions are placed around the employment of children on the 
stage and in certain factories and occupations. On the report of 
a school medical officer individual children may be prohibited from 
engaging in certain occupations that may be prejudicial to health or 
physical development or interfere with their obtaining the proper 
benefit from education. 

In the matter of school attendance the act at one stroke removes 
all exemptions from attendance at public elementary schools, in 



86 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

which fees are now entirely abolished, for children between the 
ages of 5 and 14, unless exemption is claimed on the ground of attend- 
ance at other schools that must be subject to inspection either by a 
local authority or the Board of Education. Thus is brought to a 
close controversy that has lasted nearly 30 years on the question of 
half-time attendance at school for children over 11 or 12 years of 
age. Where nursery schools are established, a local authority may 
permit attendance at these up to the age of 6 and transfer to the 
elemental schools at that age. Further, local authorities are em- 
powered to enact by-laws requiring compulsory attendance at pub- 
lic elementary schools up to the age of 15, or, with the approval of 
the board, up to 16. 

The act now extends the scope of the elementary schools by re- 
quiring the inclusion of practical instruction suitable to the ages, 
abilities, and requirements of the children and the organization of 
advanced instruction for the older or more intelligent children, who 
are not transferred to higher schools, by means of central schools 
and central or special classes. This provision means that children 
in the upper grades will not be required to waste what for many 
will be the last years of full-time education as the result of an anti- 
quated definition of the term " elementary school. "' The act thus 
sets up what will virtually prove to be a system of intermediate edu- 
cation, with the right to exemption from attendance at continuation 
schools for children remaining until 10. The act does not define, 
nor did the debates bring out, the nature of the work that will be 
provided in the advanced courses, but the guess may be hazarded 
that they will follow the type already successfully inaugurated in 
the London central schools, and probably not unlike some of the 
schemes proposed for the junior high schools in this country. 

For the present the question of providing free secondary schools 
is shelved, but- local authorities are encouraged to provide a more 
adequate supply of secondary schools, with easier access to them, so 
that, in the words of the act, ''children and young persons shall not 
be debarred from receiving the benefits of any form of education by 
which they are capable of profiting through inability to pay fees/' 
The enlarged and enriched opportunities of education will consist 
not merely of an increase of free places to pupils from elementary 
schools and of scholarships, but also of the provision of maintenance 
allowances. Beyond the references already made the act does not 
deal with secondary schools, but the board has recently issued new 
regulations that will require the organization of advanced courses 
for pupils above the age of 1G who desire to specialize in classics, 
science, and mathematics, and modern languages. Up to the age of 
16 it is intended that all pupils shall enjoy a general education with 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 87 

due recognition of the claims of the classics, the sciences, and modern 
languages in a liberal education. Vocational preparation finds no 
place in the program, but will probably be provided in an extension 
of the number of junior and senior technical schools. 

Up to this point Mr. Fisher encountered no difficulty in piloting 
his measure through the House of Commons. The storm center 
proved to be the provision for compulsory attendance at continuation 
schools for young persons between the ages of 14 and 18 for 8 hours 
a week for 40 weeks in the year between the hours of 7 in the morn- 
ing and 8 in the evening. Employers are required not only to allow 
the time oif necessary for attending school, but such additional time 
up to two hours as may be necessary to secure that a }"Oung person 
" is in a fit mental and bodily condition to receive full benefit from 
the attendance at school/' The 3'oung person, his parents, and his 
employers may be liable to a fine if he fail to attend regularly. Ex- 
emptions from attendance are granted only to those who have at- 
tended a full-time day school to 16 or are in attendance at such school 
or are attending part-time continuation or "works" schools estab- 
lished by employers in connection with their factories and open to 
inspection by the board and the local education authority. 

The chief opposition came from a small group of employers who 
feared that their supply of labor would be cut off. These were ready 
to suggest all kinds of compromises — half-time attendance for 20 
hours a week between the ages of 14 and 16 ; special intensified and 
advanced courses for pupils between 12 and 14; and increased oppor- 
tunities for secondary and university education for brighter pupils. 
But, as Mr. Fisher eloquently pointed out, ''there is nothing sacro- 
sanct itself about industry. The real interests of the State do not 
consist in the maintenance of this or that industry, but in the main- 
tenance of the welfare of all its citizens." 

To the surprise of the opposition, no less than of his supporters, 
Mr. Fisher agreed to postpone the full operation of the compulsory 
provision as it affects young persons between 16 and 18 for seven 
years from the appointed day, that is, the day on which the whole 
section is declared by the board to become operative. In addition he 
agreed to reduce the required attendance from 8 hours a week to 
7 hours. The opposition was now T satisfied, but many of the 
ardent supporters of the bill charged Mr. Fisher with betraying the 
cause. As a matter of fact Mr. Fisher has sacrificed nothing that he 
was not fully aware coidd be sacrificed. It is obvious that at this 
crisis, when the building of new schools is suspended, when the ex- 
isting schools have the greatest difficulty in maintaining even a mini- 
mum supply of teachers, and when the industrial demands for labor 
are urgent, the full operation of the law would not have been pes- 



88 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

sible. Mr. Fisher's compromise means that a start can soon be made 
and that the public will be educated to the full significance of the 
measure when the seven years are completed. A number of educa- 
tional authorities and a number of the larger industrial establishments 
have already adopted schemes that have the approval of the board, 
thus disproving the contention that only the bare minimum required 
by Mr. Fisher's concession will be provided. The probability is that 
after seven years of experimentation local authorities will be ready 
to do more than the act requires. 

As in the case of the advanced courses in elementary schools, the 
function of the continuation schools is broadly defined as schools " in 
which suitable courses of study, instruction, and physical training are 
provided without payment of fees." The provisions for social train- 
ing and medical inspection will also apply to these schools. It is 
probable that the courses of study will be liberal and general in 
character. Indeed, guaranties were asked and assurances were given 
in the course of the debates that specific vocational training would 
not be given in these schools, but as Mr. Fisher pointed out : 

It would not be to the interest of an educated democracy that there should 
be no connection between the education they were seeking in the schools and the 
lives they were to lead. At the same time he felt that education should be a 
great liberating force, that it should provide compensation against the sordid 
monotony which attached to so much of industrial life of the country by 
lifting the workers to a more elevated and pure atmosphere, and the board 
would be false to the purpose for which the bill was framed if it were to 
sanction a system in continuation schools in which due attention was not 
paid to the liberal aspects of education. 

The attitude of the Workers' Education Association was some- 
what the same in their declaration of a policy — 

That the education in such schools should be directed solely toward the full 
development of the bodies, minds, and character of the pupils; that it should 
therefore be intimately related to the environment and interests of the pupils 
and should contain ample provision for physical well-being. 

Under the freedom permitted by the procedure through schemes, 
considerable latitude will be permitted to local authorities to adapt 
the courses to local conditions. The vocations will no doubt furnish 
a starting point for such courses of instruction. The Report of the 
Departmental Committee on Juvenile Education 1 contains some sug- 
gestions on the organization of the curriculum of continuation 
schools. Instruction should in no case be too narrowly technical, 
and the curriculum should maintain a proper balance between the 
technical and humanistic elements, since the primary function of 
education is to prepare for citizenship. A four-year course should be 
divided into equal stages, of which the first will be mainly general, 

» See pp. 22ff. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 89 

and the second technical and vocational. The common ground for 
all in the first stage should be English subjects, including not only 
literature but geography and social and industrial history. The 
remaining subjects should be mathematics, manual training, science, 
each varied to suit the needs and the occupational interests of the 
students, and physical training. Only in the second stage would the 
curriculum be definitely founded on the chief vocational groups — 
agriculture, engineering, building, mining, textiles, the technical in- 
dustries, commercial occupations, and domestic occupations. But even 
in the second stage the committee urges that technical subjects might 
be included as a medium of education and not as a means of produc- 
tion. In general the emphasis should be placed on social, historical, 
and economic elements in the subjects adopted in both stages. Steps 
have already been taken, as, for example, at the University of Man- 
chester, to furnish special courses for training teachers for continua- 
tion schools. For the present there is some danger that a false start 
may be made by appointing teachers whose sole experience has been 
in elementary or secondary schools. However that may be, the point 
that needs to be emphasized here is that the criticism that has been 
leveled against Mr. Fisher's compromise is not valid, and that the 
continuation school with compulsory attendance required up to the 
age of 18 will be an accomplished fact at the close of the seven years 
of the postponement. It is significant that this is the only point that 
has been subjected to serious criticism. 

The true estimate of the act may be reached by comparing it with 
the suggestions and recommendations of the bodies referred to on 
pp. 70ff ; those which have not been incorporated in the act can be pro- 
vided for by the Board of Education by its administrative regula- 
tions; others look too far into the future. It must be borne in mind 
that the act is but a first step, giving local authorities power to expand 
their educational activities. However desirable such proposals may 
be, the time is not ripe for the abolition of fees in secondary schools 
and for establishing an entirely free system of higher education or 
for the payment by the State of grants equal to 75 per cent of the local 
expenditure on education or to require 20 horn's' attendance a week 
at continuation schools. Other suggestions will probably never be 
adopted in England; it is unlikely, for example, that the State will 
assume the direct payment of teachers' salaries, and, as a consequence, 
the establishment of the teaching profession as a branch of the civil 
service; it is improbable too that teachers will be placed on education 
committees to any large extent, especially as joint councils may be 
set up under the Whitley committee's recommendations. Technical 
education, university education, adult education, and the training 
of teachers still remain problems that the Government must shortly 



90 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1016-1918. 

consider, but, important though they are, these problems are not such 
as could be legislated upon at the present crisis. 

The act has been variously hailed as the children's charter and as 
the Nation's charter. Certainly it inaugurates a new era as embody- 
ing " the first real attempt ever made in this country (England) to 
lay broad and deep the foundations of a scheme of education which 
would be truly national." Of much greater significance for the future 
of English democracy is the fact that the act is an attempt to provide 
the foundations of an education for the great mass of young citizens 
which, to quote Mr. Fisher, is " adequate to the new, serious, and en- 
during liabilities which the development of this great world war cre- 
ates for our Empire or to the new civic burdens which we are imposing 
upon millions of our people." But whatever the merits of the act may 
be, it should not escape attention that the English Government and 
the English people did not consider it incompatible with the successful 
conduct of the war to divert some attention to the more pressing do- 
mestic problems of the present and the immediate future. Education 
is but part of the broader program for reconstruction after the war 
that is already being considered in England and whose scope is defined 
in the following words by the war cabinet in its report for 1917: 

It is, indeed, becoming more and more apparent that reconstruction is not so 
much a question of rebuilding society as it was before the war, but of molding a 
better world out of the social and economic conditions which have come iuto 
being during the war. 

EDUCATION ACT, 1918. 

[8 and 9 Geo. 5. Ch. 39.] 

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS. 

National System of Public Education. 
Sec. 

1. Progressive and comprehensive organization of education. 

2. Development of education in public elementary schools. 

3. Establishment of continuation schools. 

4. Preparation and submission of schemes. 

5. Approval of schemes by Board of Education. 

6. Provisions as to cooperation and. combination. 

7. Provision as to amount of expenditure for education. 

Attendance at School and Employment of Children and Young Persona. 

8. Provisions as to attendance at elementary schools. 

9. Provisions for avoidance of broken school terms. 

10. Compulsory attendance at continuation schools. 

11. Enforcement of attendance at continuation schools. 

12. Administrative provisions relating to continuation schools. 

13. Amendment of 3 Edw. 7, c. 45, and 4 Edw. 7, c. 15. 

14. Prohibition against employment of children in factories, workshops, mines, and 

quarries. 

15. Further restrictions on employment of children. 

lfl. Penalties on illegal employment of children and young persons. 

Extension of Powers and Duties. 

17. Power to promote social and physical training. 

18. Medical inspection of schools and educational institutions. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 91 

Sec. 

19. Nursery schools. 

20. Education of physically defective and epileptic children. 

21. Powers for the education of children in exceptional circumstances. 

22. Amendment of Education (Choice of Employment) Act, 1910. 

23. Tower to aid research. 

24. Provision of maintenance allowances. 
2">. Provisions as to medical treatment. 

Abolition of Fees in Public Elementary Schools. 

26. Abolition of fees in public elementary schools. 

Administrative Provisions. 

27. Voluntary inspection of schools. 

28. Collection of information respecting schools. 

29. Provisions with respect to appointment of certain classes of teachers. 

30. Provisions as to closing of schools. 

31. Grouping of nonprovided schools of the same denominational character. 

32. Provisions relating to central schools and classes. 

33. Saving for certain statutory provisions. 

34. Acquisition of land by local education authority. 
3"). Power to provide elementary schools outside area. 

36. Amendments with respect to the allocation of expenses to particular areas. 

37. Provisions as to expenses of Provisional Orders, etc. 

38. Expenses of education meetings, conferences, etc. 

39. Power to pay expenses of prosecution for cruelty. 

40. Public inquiries by Board of Education. 

41. Inspection of minutes. 

42. Payments to the Central Welsh Board. 

43. Evidence of certificates, etc., issued by local education authorities. 

Education Grants. 

44. Education grants. 

Educational Trusts. 

45. Power to constitute official trustees of educational trust property. 

46. Exemption of assurance of property for educational purposes from certain restrictions 

under the Mortmain Acts. 

47. Appointment of new trustees under scheme. 

General. 

48. Definitions. 

49. Compensation to existing officers. 

50. Extension of certain provisions of the education acts. 

51. Repeals. 

52. Short title, construction, extent, and commencement. 



Chapter. 39. 

An Act to make further provision with respect to education in England and Wales and for 
purposes connected therewith. [8th August 1918.] 

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice 
and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present 
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 

National System of Public Education. 

1. With a view to the establishment of a national system of public education 
available for all persons capable of profiting thereby, it shall be the duty of the 
council of every county and county borough, so far as their powers extend, to 
contribute thereto by providing for the progressive development and com- 



92 BIENNIAL SUEVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

prehensive organization of education in respect of their area, and with that 
object any such council from time to time may, and shall when required by the 
Board of Education, submit to the board schemes showing the mode in which 
their duties and powers under the education acts are to be performed and 
exercised, whether separately or in cooperation with other authorities. 

2. (1) It shall be the duty of a local education authority so to exercise their 
powers under Part III of the Education Act, 1902, as — 

(a) To make, or otherwise to secure, adequate and suitable provision by 

means of central schools, central or special classes, or otherwise — 

(i) For including in the curriculum of public elementary schools, 
at appropriate stages, practical instruction suitable to the ages, abili- 
ties, and requirements of the children ; and 

(ii) For organizing in public elementary schools courses of ad- 
vanced instruction for the older or more intelligent children in at- 
tendance at such schools, including children who stay at such schools 
beyond the age of 14; 

(b) To make, or otherwise to secure, adequate and suitable arrangements 

under the provisions of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 13 
of the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, for attending 
to the health and physical condition of children educated in public 
elementary schools ; and 

(c) To make, or otherwise to secure, adequate and suitable arrangements 

for cooperating with local education authorities for the purposes of 
Part II of the Education Act, 1902, in matters of common interest, and 
particularly in respect of — 

(/) The preparation of children for further education in schools 
other than elementary, and their transference at suitable ages to 
such schools ; and 

(H) The supply and training of teachers; 
and any such authority from time to time may, and shall when required by the 
Board of Education, submit to the board schemes for the exercise of their 
powers as an authority for the purposes of Part III of the Education Act, JS02. 

(2) So much of the definition of the term "elementary school" in section 
three of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, as requires that elementary edu- 
cation shall be the principal part of the education there given, shall not apuly 
to such courses of advanced instruction as aforesaid. 

3.- (1) It shall be the duty of the local education authority for the purposes 
of Part II of the Education Act, 1902, either separately or in cooperation with 
other local education authorities, to establish end maintain, or secure the 
establishment and maintenance under their control and direction, of a sufficient 
supply of continuation schools in which suitable courses of study, instruction, 
and physical training are provided without payment of fees for all young per- 
sons resident in their area who are, under this act, under an obligation to at- 
tend such schools. 

(2) For the purposes aforesaid the local education authority from time to 
time may, and shall when required by the Board of Education, submit to the 
board schemes for the progressive organization of a system of continuation 
schools, and for securing general and regular attendance thereat, and in pre- 
paring schemes under this section the local education authority shall have 
regard to the desirability of including therein arrangements for cooperation 
with universities in the provision of lectures and classes for scholars for whom 
instruction by such means is suitable. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 93 

(3) The council of any county shall, if practicable, provide for the in- 
clusion of representatives of education authorities for the purposes of Part III 
of the Education Act, 1902, in any body of managers of continuation schools 
within the area of those authorities. 

4. (1) The council of any county, before submitting a scheme under this 
act, shall consult the other authorities within their county (if any) who are 
authorities for the purposes of Part III of the Education Act, 1902, with refer- 
ence to the mode in which and the extent to which any such authority will 
cooperate with the council in carrying out their scheme, and when submitting 
their scheme shall make a report to the Board of Education as to the co- 
operation which is to be anticipated from any such authority, and any such 
authority may, if they so desire, submit to the board as well as to the council 
of the county any proposals or representations relating to the provision or or- 
ganization of education in the area of that authority for consideration in con- 
nection with the scheme of the county. 

(2) Before submitting schemes under this act a local education authority 
shall consider any representations made to them by parents or other persons 
or bodies of persons interested, and shall adopt such measures to ascertain 
their views as they consider desirable, and the authority shall take such steps 
to give publicity to their proposals as they consider suitable, or as the Board 
of Education may require. 

(3) A local education authority in preparing schemes under this act shall 
have regard to any existing supply of efficient and suitable schools or colleges 
not provided by local education authorities, and to any proposals to provide 
such schools "or colleges. 

(4) In schemes under this act adequate provision shall be made in order to 
secure that children and young persons shall not be debarred from receiving 
the benefits of any form of education by which they are capable of profiting 
through inability to pay fees. 

5. (1) The Board of Education may approve any scheme (which term shall 
include an interim, provisional, or amending scheme) submitted to them under 
this act by a local education authority, and thereupon it shall be the duty 
of the local education authority to give effect to the scheme. 

(2) If the Board of Education are of opinion that a scheme does not make 
adequate provision in respect of all or any of the purposes to which the scheme 
relates, and the board are unable to agree with the authority as to what 
amendments should be made in the scheme, they shall offer to hold a confer- 
ence with the representatives of the authority and, if requested by the au- 
thority, shall hold a public inquiry in the matter. 

(3) If thereafter the Board of Education disapprove a scheme, they shall 
notify the authority, and, if within one month after such notification an agree- 
ment is not reached, they shall lay before Parliament the report of the public 
inquiry (if any) together with a report stating their reasons for such disap- 
proval and any action which they intend to take in consequent thereof by 
way of withholding or reducing any grants payable to the authority. 

6. (1) For the purpose of performing any duty or exercising any power 
under the education acts, a council having powers under those acts may enter 
into such arrangements as they think proper for cooperation or combination 
with any other council or councils having such powers, and any such arrange- 
ment may provide for the appointment of a joint committee or a joint body of 
managers, for the delegation to that committee or body of managers of any 
powers or duties of the councils (other than the power of raising a rate or 
borrowing money), for the proportion of contributions to be paid by each conn- 



94 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

cil, and for any other matters which appear necessary for carrying out the 
arrangement. 

(2) The Board of Education may, on the application of two or more councils 
having powers under the education acts, by scheme provide for the establish- 
ment and (if thought fit) the incorporation of a federation for such purposes 
of any such arrangements as aforesaid as may be specified in the scheme as 
being purposes relating to matters of common interest concerning education 
which it is necessary or convenient to consider in relation to areas larger than 
those of individual education authorities, and the powers conferred on councils 
by this section shall include power to arrange for the performance of any 
educational or administrative functions by such a federation as if it were a 
joint committee or a joint body of managers: Provided, That no council shall 
without its consent be included in a scheme establishing a federation, and no 
council shall be obliged to continue in a federation except in accordance with 
the provisions of a scheme to which it has consented. 

(3) A scheme made by the Board of Education constituting a federation, 
and an arrangement establishing a joint committee or a joint body of managers, 
shall provide for the appointment of at least two-thirds of the members by 
councils having powers under the education acts, and may provide either 
directly or by cooperation for the inclusion of teachers or other persons of 
experience in education and of representatives of universities or other bodies. 

(4) A scheme constituting a federation may on the application of one or 
more of the councils concerned be modified or repealed by a further scheme, 
and, where a scheme provides for the discontinuance of a federation, provision 
may be made for dealing with any property or liabilities of the federation. 

(5) Where any arrangement under this section provides for the payment of 
an annual contribution by one council to another, the contribution shall, for 
the purposes of section 19 of the Education Act. 1902, form part of the security 
on which money may be borrowed under that section. 

7. The limit under section 2 of the Education Act, 1902, on the amount to 
be raised by the council of a county out of rates for the purpose of education 
other than elementary shall cease to have effect. 



A 



ttendance at School and Employment of Children and Young Persons. 



8. (1) Subject as provided in this act, no exemption from attendance at 
school shall be granted to any child between the ages of 5 and 14 years, and 
any enactment giving a power, or imposing a duty, to provide for any such 
exemption, and any provision of a by-law providing for any such exemption, 
shall cease to have effect, without prejudice to any exemptions already granted. 
Any by-law which names a lower age than 14 as the age up to which a parent 
shall cause his child to attend school shall have effect as if the age of 14 were 
substituted for that lower age. 

(2) In section 74 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, as amended by 
section 6 of the Elementary Education Act, 1900, 15 years shall be substituted 
for 14 years as the maximum age up to which by-laws relating to school 
attendance may require parents to cause their children to attend school, and 
any such by-law reqtiiring attendance at school of children between the ages 
of 14 and 15 may apply either generally to all such children, or to children 
other than those employed in any specified occupations : Provided, That it shall 
be lawful for a local education authority to grant exemption from the obligation 
to attend school to individual children between the ages of 14 and 15 for such 
time and upon such conditions as the authority think fit in any case where after 
due inquiry the circumstances seem to justify such an exemption. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 95 

(3) It shall not be a defense to proceedings relating to school attendance 
under the education acts or auy by-laws made thereunder that a child is 
attending a school or institution providing efficient elementary instruction unless 
the school or institution is open, to inspection either by the local education 
authority or by the Board of Education, and unless satisfactory registers are 
kept of the attendance of the scholars thereat. 

(4) A local education authority may with the approval of the Board of 
Education make a by-law under section 74 of the Elementary Education Act, 
INTO, providing that parents shall not be required to cause their children to 
attend school or to receive efficient elementary instruction in reading, writing, 
and arithmetic before the age of 6 years: Provided, That in considering any such 
by-law the board shall have regard to the adequacy of the provision of nursery 
schools for the area to which the by-law relates, and shall, if requested by any 
10 parents of children attending public elementary schools for that area, hold a 
public inquiry for the purpose of determining whether the by-law should he 
approved. 

(5) Notwithstanding anything in the education acts the Board of Education 
may, on the application of the local education authority, authorize the instruc- 
tion of children in public elementary schools till the end of the school term 
iu which they reach the age of 16 or (in special circumstances) such later 
age as appears to the hoard desirable: Provided, That, in considering such appli- 
cation, the board shall have regard to the adequacy of the provision of nursery 
schools for the area to which under paragraphs (a) and (c) of subsection 
(1) of section 2 of this act and to the effective development and organization of 
all forms of education in the area, and to auy representations made by the mana- 
gers of schools. 

(6) The power of a local education authority under section 7 of the Educa- 
tion Act, 1902, to give directions as to secular instruction shall include the power 
to direct that any child in attendance at a public elementary school shall attend 
during such hours as may be directed by the authority at any class, whether 
conducted on the school premises or not, for the purpose of practical or special 
instruction or demonstration, and attendance at such a class shall, where the 
local education authority so direct, be deemed for the purpose of any enact- 
ment or by-law relating to school attendance to be attendance at a public 
elementary school : Provided, That, if by reason of any such direction a child is 
prevented on any day from receiving religious instruction in the school at the 
ordinary time mentioned in the time-table, reasonable facilities shall be afforded, 
subject to the provisions of section 7 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, for 
enabling such child to receive religious instruction in the school at some other 
time. 

(7) In section 11 of the Elementary Education Act, 1876 (which relates to 
school attendance), for the words "there is not within 2 miles" there shall he 
substituted the words "there is not within such distance as may be prescribed 
by the bylaws." 

(8) Nothing in this section shall affect the provisions of the Elementary 
Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act, 1893, or the Elementary Education 
(Defective and Epileptic Children) Acts, 1899 to 1914, relating to the attendance 
at school of the children to whom those acts apply. 

it. (1) If a child who is attending or is about to attend a public elementary 
school or a school certified by the Board of Education under the Elementary 
Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act, 1893, or the Elementary Education 
(Defective and Epileptic Children) Acts, 1899 to 1914, attains any year of ago 
during the school term, the child shall not, for the purpose of any enactment or 



96 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

by-law, whether made before or after the passing < f this act, relating to school 
attendance, be deemed to have attained that year of age until the end of the term. 
(2) The local education authority for the purposes of Part III of the Educa- 
tion Act, 1902, may make regulations with the approval of the Board of Educa- 
tion providing that a* child may, in such cases as are prescribed by the regula- 
tions, be refused admission to a public elementary school or such certified 
school as aforesaid except at the commencement of a school term. 

10. (1) Subject as hereinafter provided, all young persons shall attend such 
continuation schools at such times, on such days, as the local education authority 
of the area in which they reside may require, for 320 hours in each year, distrib- 
uted as regards times and seasons as may best suit the circumstances of each 
locality, or, in the case of a period of less than a year, for such number of hours 
distributed as aforesaid as the local education authority, having regard to all 
the circumstances, consider reasonable: Prorided, That — - 

((f) The obligation to attend continuation schools shall not, within a period 
of seven years from the appointed day on which the provisions of 
this section come into force, apply to young persons between the ages 
of 16 and 18, nor after that period to any young person who has 
attained the age of 16 before the expiration of that period; and 
(b) During the like period, if the local education authority so resolve, the 
number of hours for which a young person may be required to attend 
continuation schools in any year shall be 280 instead of 320. 

(2) Any young person — 

(i) Who is above the age of 14 years mi the appointed day; or 
(ii) Who has satisfactorily completed a course of training for. and is en- 
gaged in, the sea service, in accordance with the provisions of any 
national scheme which may hereafter be established, by Order in 
Council or otherwise, with the object of maintaining an adequate 
supply of well-trained British seamen, or, pending the establish- 
ment of such scheme, in accordance with the provisions of any 
interim scheme approved by the Board of Education ; or 
(iii) Who is above the age of 16 years and either— 

(a) Has passed the matriculation examination of a university of 

the United Kingdom or an examination recognized by the Board of 

Education for the purposes of this section as equivalent thereto; or 

(b) Is shown to the satisfaction of the local education authority 

to have been up to the age of 16 under full-time instruction in a 

school recognized by the Board of Education as efficient or under 

suitable and efficient full-time instruction in some other manner, 

shall be exempt from the obligation to attend continuation schools under this 

act unless he has informed the authority in writing of his desire to attend such 

schools and the authority have prescribed what school he shall attend. 

(3) The obligation to attend continuation schools under this act shall not 
apply to any young person — 

(i) Who is shown to the satisfaction of the local education authority to be 
under full-time instruction in a school recognized by the Board of 
Education as efficient or to be under suitable and efficient full-time 
instruction in some other manner; or 

(ii) Who is shown to the satisfaction of the local education authority to 
be under suitable and efficient part-time instruction in some other 
manner for a number of hours in the year (being hours during 
which if not exempted he might be required to attend continuation 
schools) equal to the number of hours during which a young per- 
son is required under this act to attend a continuation school. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 97 

(4) Where a school supplying secondary education is inspected by a British 
university, or in Wales or Monmouthshire by the Central Welsh Board, under 
regulations made by the inspecting body after consultation with the Board of 
Education, and the inspecting body reports to the Board of Education that 1 lie 
school makes satisfactory provision for the education of the scholars, a young 
person who is attending, or has attended, such a school shall for the purposes of 
tin's section be treated as if he were attending, or had attended, a school recog- 
nized by the Board of Education as efficient. 

(5) If a young person who is or has been in any school or educational insti- 
tution, or the parent of any such young person, represents to the board that 
the young person is entitled to exemption under the provisions of this section, 
or that the obligation imposed by this section does not apply to him, by reason 
that he is or has been under suitable and efficient instruction, but that the local 
education authority have unreasonably refused to accept the instruction as 
satisfactory, the Board of Education shall consider the representation, and, if 
satisfied that the representation is well founded, shall make an order declaring 
that the young person is exempt from the obligation to attend a continuation 
school under this act for such period and subject to such conditions as may 
be named in the order: Provided, That the Board of Education may refuse to 
consider any such representation unless the local education authority or the 
Board of Education are enabled to inspect the school or educational institution 
in which the instruction is or has been given. 

(6) The local education authority may require, in the case of any young 
person who is under an obligation to attend a continuation school, that his 
employment shall be suspended on any day when his attendance is required, 
not only during the period for which he is required to attend the school, but 
also for such other specified part of the day, not exceeding two hours, as the 
authority consider necessary in order to secure that he may be in a fit mental 
and bodily condition to receive full benefit from attendance at the school : Pro- 
vided, That if any question arises between the local education authority and the 
employer of a young person whether a requirement made under this subsection 
is reasonable for the purposes aforesaid, that question shall be determined by 
the Board of Education, and if the Board of Education determine that the 
requirement is unreasonable, they may substitute such other requirement as 
they think reasonable. 

(7) The local education authority shall not require any young person to 
attend a continuation school on a Sunday, or on any day or part of a day exclu- 
sively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which he 
belongs, or during any holiday or half holiday to which by any enactment regu- 
lating his employment or by agreement he is entitled, nor so far as practicable 
during any holiday or half holiday which in his employment he is accustomed to 
enjoy, nor between the hours of 7 in the evening and 8 in the morning: 
Provided, That the local education authority may, with the approval of the 
hoard, vary those hours in the case of young persons employed at night or other- 
wise employed at abnormal times. 

(8) A local education authority shall not, without the consent of a young 
person, require him to attend any continuation school held at or in connection 
with the place of his employment. The consent given by a young person for 
the purpose of this provision may be withdrawn by one month's notice in writ- 
ing sent to the employer and to the local education authority. 

Any school attended by a young person at or in connection with the place 
of his employment shall be open to inspection either by the local education 
106406°— 19 7 



98 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

authority or by the Board of Education at the option of the person or persons 
responsible for the management of the school. 

(9) In considering what continuation school a young person shall be required 
to attend a local education authority shall have regard, as far as practicable, to 
any preference which a young person or the parent of a young person under the 
age of 16 may express, and if a young person or the parent of a young person 
under the age of 16 represents in writing to the local education authority that 
he objects to any part of the instruction given in the continuation school which 
the young person is required to attend, on the ground that it is contrary or 
offensive to his religious belief, the obligation under this act to attend that 
school for the purpose of such instruction shall not apply to him, and the local 
education authority shall, if practicable, arrange for him to attend some other 
instruction in lieu thereof or some other school. 

11. (1) If a young person fails, except by reason of sickness or other un- 
avoidable cause, to comply with any requirement imposed upon him under this 
act for attendance at a continuation school, he shall be liable on summary 
conviction to a fine not exceeding 5 shillings, or in the case of a second or sub- 
sequent offense to a fine not exceeding £1. 

(2) If a parent of a young person has conduced to or connived at the failure 
on the part of the young person to attend a continuation school as required 
under this act, he shall, unless an order has been made against him in respect 
of such failure under section 99 of the Children Act, 1908, be liable on sum- 
mary conviction to a fine not exceeding £2, or in the case of a second or subse- 
quent offense, whether relating to the same or another young person, to a 
fine not exceeding £5. 

12. (1) The Board of Education may from time to time make regulations 
prescribing the manner and form in which notice is to be given as to the con- 
tinuation school (if any) which a young person is required to attend, and the 
times of attendance thereat, and as to the hours during which his employment 
must be suspended, and providing for the issue of certificates of age, attendance, 
and exemption, and for the keeping and preservation of registers of attendance, 
and generally for carrying into effect the provisions of this act relating to 
continuation schools. 

(2) For the purposes of the provisions of this act relating to continuation 
schools, the expression "year" means in the case of any young person the 
period of 12 months reckoned from the date when he ceased to be a child, or any 
subsequent period of 12 months. 

13. (1) The Employment of Children Act, 1903, so far as it relates to Eng- 
land and Wales, shall be amended as follows: 

(i) For subsection (1) of section 3 the following subsection shall be sub- 
stituted : 

"A child under the age of 12 shall not be employed ; and a child of the 
age of 12 or upward shall not be employed on any Sunday for more than 
two hours, or on any day on which he is required to attend school before 
the close of school hours on that day, nor on any day before 6 o'clock 
in the morning or after 8 o'clock in the evening: Provided, That 
a local authority may make a by-law permitting, with respect to 
such occupations as may be specified, and subject to such condi- 
tions as may be necessary to safeguard the interests of the children, 
the employment of children of the age of 12 or upward before school 
hours, and the employment of children by their parents, but so that 
any employment permitted by by-law on a school day before 9 in the 
morning shall be limited to one hour, and that if a child is so employed 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN" AND IRELAND. 99 

before 9 in the morning he shall not be employed for more than one 
hour in the afternoon." 
(ii) In subsection (2) „of section 3, which prohibits the employment of a child 
under the age of 11 years in street trading, the words " under the age 
of 11 years," shall be repealed. 

(iii) For section 12 the following section shall be substituted: 

" Except as regards the City of London, the powers and duties of a 
local authority under this act shall be deemed to be powers and duties 
under Part III, of the Education Act, 1902, and the provisions of the 
education acts for the time being in force with regard to those powers 
and duties and as to the manner in which the expenses of an authority 
under that part of that act shall be paid shall apply accordingly " : 

(iv) For the definition of the expression "local authority" there shall be 
substituted the .following definition: 

" The expression ' local authority ' means in the case of the City of 

London the mayor, aldermen, and commons of that city in common 

council assembled and elsewhere the local education authority for the 

purposes of Part III of the Education Act, 1902." 

(2) The Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1904, so far as it relates to 

England and Wales, shall be amended as follows: 

(i) In paragraph (b) of section 2, which restricts the employment of boys 
under the age of 14 years and of girls under the age of 16 years for the 
purpose of singing, playing, or performing, or being exhibited for profit, 
or offering anything for sale, between 9 p. m. and 6 a. in., " S p. in." shall 
be substituted for " 9 p. m." so far as relates to children under 14 
years of age ; 
(ii) In paragraph (c) of section 2, which restricts the employment of children 
under 11 years for the purpose of singing, playing, or performing, or 
being exhibited for profit, or offering anything for sale, 12 years shall 
be substituted for 11 years ; 

(iii) In section 3, which relates to licenses for the employment of children ex- 
ceeding 10 years of age, the age of 12 years shall be substituted for the 
age of 10 years ; 

(iv) A license under section 3 to take part in any entertainment or series of 
entertainments, instead of being granted, varied, added to, or rescinded 
as provided by that section, shall be granted by the local education 
authority for the purposes of Part III of the Education Act, 1902, of the 
the area in which the child resides, subject to such restrictions and con- 
ditions as are prescribed by rules made by the Board of Education, and 
may be rescinded by the authority of any area In which it takes effect 
or is about to take effect if the restrictions and conditions of the 
license are not observed, and, subject as aforesaid, may be varied or 
added to by that authority at the reqiiest of the holder of the license ; 
(v) The holder of a license shall at least seven days before a child takes 
part in any entertainment or series of entertainments furnish the 
the local education authority of the area in which the entertainment 
is to take place with particulars of the license and such other informa- 
tion as the Board of Education may by rules prescribe, and if he fails 
to furnish such particulars and information as aforesaid, he shall be 
liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5. 

(vi) Subsections (3) and (4) if section 3 shall cease to apply with respect 
to licenses to take part in an entertainment or series of entertainments: 



100 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

(vii) If the applicant for a license or a person to whom a license has been 
granted feels aggrieved by any decision of a local education au- 
thority, he may appeal to the Board of Education, who may thereupon 
exercise any of the powers conferred on a local education authority 
by this section. 

(viii) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any license in force 
on the appointed day. 

(ix) References to the Employment of Children Act, 1003. shall be construed 
as references to that act as amended by this act. 

14. No child within the meaning of this act shall be employed — 

(«) In any factory or workshop to which the Factory and Workshop Acts, 
1901 to 1911, apply ; or 

(b) In any mine to which the Coal Mines Act, 1911, applies; or 

(c) In any mine or quarry to which the Metalliferous Mines Acts, 1872 

and 1S75, apply ; 
unless lawfully so employed on the appointed day ; and those acts, respectively, 
shall have effect as respects England and Wales as if this provision, so far as 
it relates to the subject matter thereof, was incorporated therewith. 

15. (1) The local education authority, if they are satisfied by a report of 
the school medical officer or otherwise that any child is being employed in such 
a manner as to be prejudicial to his health or physical development, or to render 
him unfit to obtain the proper benefit from his education, may either prohibit, 
or attach such conditions as they think fit to, his employment in that or any 
other manner, notwithstanding that the employment may be authorized under 
the other provisions of this act or any other enactment. 

(2) It shall be the duty of the employer and the parent of any child who 
is in employment, if required by the local education authority, to furnish to 
the authority such information as to his employment as the authority may 
require, and, if the parent or employer fails to comply with any requirement 
of the local education authority or willfully gives false information as to the 
employment, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 
40 shillings. 

16. If any person— 

(«) Employs a child in such a manner as to prevent the child from attending 
school according to the education acts and the by-laws in force in the 
district in which the child resides; or 
(o) Having received notice of any prohibition or restriction as to the em- 
ployment of a child issued by a local education authority under this 
act, employs a child in such a manner as to contravene the pro- 
hibition or restriction ; or 
(<•) Employs a young person in such a manner as to prevent the young 
person attending a continuation school which he is required to attend 
under this act ; or 
(il) Employs a young person at any time when, in pursuance of any require- 
ment under this act issued by a local education authority, the employ- 
ment of that young person must be suspended ; 
lie shall be deemed to have employed the child or young person in contravention 
of the Employment of Children Act, 1903, and subsections (1) and (2) of sec- 
tion 5 and section 6 and section 8 of that act shall apply accordingly as if they 
were herein reenacted and in terms made applicable to children and young 
persons within the meaning of this act as well as to children within the mean- 
ing of that act. 



EDUCATION IN" GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 101 

Extension of Powers and Duties. 

17. For the purpose of supplementing and reinforcing the instruction and 
social and physical training provided by the public system of education, and 
without prejudice to any other powers, a local education authority for the 
purposes of Part III of the Education Act, 1902f as respects children attending 
public elementary schools, and a local education authority for the purposes of 
Part II of that act as respects other children and young persons and persons 
over the age of 18 attending educational institutions may, with the approval of 
the Board of Education, make arrangements to supply or maintain or aid the 
supply or maintenance of— 

(a) Holiday or school camps, especially for young persons attending con- 

tinuation schools; 

(b) Centers and equipment for physical training, playing fields (other than 

the ordinary playgrounds of public elementary schools not provided by 
the local education authority), school baths, school swimming baths; 
(r) Other facilities for social and physical training in the day or evening. 

18. (1) The local education authority for the purposes of Part II of the 
Education Act, 1902, shall have the same duties and powers with reference to 
making provision for the medical inspection and treatment of children and 
young persons attending — 

(/) Secondary schools provided by them; 

(ii) Any school to the governing body of which, in pursuance of any scheme 
made under the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 18S9, any pay- 
ments are made out of any general fund administered by a local edu- 
cation authority as a governing body under that act, and any school 
of which a local education authority are the governing body under 
that act; 
(Hi) Continuation schools under their direction and control; and 
(ft?) Such other schools or educational institutions (not being elementary 
schools ) provided by them as the board direct ; 
as a local education authority for the purposes of Part III of the Education 
Act, 1902, have under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 13 of the 
Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, with reference to children 
attending public elementary schools, and may exercise the like powers as re- 
spects children and young persons attending any school or educational institu- 
tion, whether aided by them or not, if so requested by or on behalf of the 
persons having the management thereof. 

(2) The Local Education Authorities (Medical Treatment) Act, 1909, shall 
apply where any medical treatment is given in pursuance of this section as it 
applies to treatment given in pursuance of section 13 of the Education (Adminis- 
trative Provisions) Act, 1907. 

19. (1) The powers of local education authorities for the purposes of Part 
III of the Education Act, 1902, shall include power to make arrangements for — 

(a) Supplying or aiding the supply of nursery schools (which expression 

shall include nursery classes) for children over 2 and under 5 years 
of age, or such later age as may be approved by the Board of Educa- 
tion, whose attendance at such a school is necessary or desirable for 
their healthy physical and mental development ; and 

(b) Attending to the health, nourishment, and physical welfare of children 

attending nursery schools. 
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of any act of Parliament the Board of 
Education may, out of moneys provided by Parliament, pay grants in aid of 



102 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

nursery schools, provided that such grants shall not be paid in respect of any 
such school unless it is open to inspection by the local education authority, and 
unless that authority are enabled to appoint representatives on the body of 
managers to the extent of at least one-third of the total number of managers, 
and before recognizing any nursery school the board shall consult the local 
education authority. 

20. A local education authority shall make arrangements under the Elemen- 
tary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Acts, 1S99 to 1914, for as- 
certaining what children in their area are physically defective or epileptic 
within the meaning of those acts, and the provisions of the Elementary Educa- 
tion (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act, 1914, relating to mentally de- 
fective children, shall be extended so as to apply to physically defective 
and epileptic children, and accordingly that act shall have effect as if ref- 
erences therein to mentally defective children included references to physically 
defective and epileptic children. 

21. Where a local education authority for the purposes of Part III of the 
Education Act, 1902, are satisfied in the case of any children that, owing to 
the remoteness of their homes or the conditions under which the children are 
living, or other exceptional circumstances affecting the children, those children 
are not in a position to receive the full benefit of education by means of the 
ordinary provision made for the purpose by the authority, the authority may, 
with the approval of the Board of Education, make such arrangements, either 
of a permanent or temporary character, and including the provision of board 
and lodging, as they think best suited for the purpose of enabling those children 
to receive the benefit of efficient elementary education, and may for that purpose 
enter into such agreement with the parent of any such child as they think 
proper: Provided, That where a child is boarded out in pursuance of this section 
the local education authority shall, if possible, and, if the parent so requests, ar- 
range for the boarding out being with a person belonging to the religious per- 
suasion of the child's parents. 

22. Section 1 of the Education (Choice of Employment) Act, 1910, which 
confers on certain local education authorities the power of assisting boys and 
girls with respect to the choice of employment, shall have effect as if " IS years 
of age " were therein substituted for " 17 years of age." 

23. With a view to promoting the efficiency of teaching and advanced study, a 
local education authority for the purposes of Part II of the Education Act, 
1902, may aid teachers and students to carry on any investigation for the ad- 
vancement of learning or research in or in connection with an educational in- 
stitution, and with that object may aid educational institutions. 

******* 

25. A local education authority shall not, in exercise of the powers conferred 
upon them by paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 13 of the Education 
(Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, or by this act, establish a general domi- 
ciliary service of treatment by medical practitioners for children or young per- 
sons, and in making arrangements for the treatment of children and young 
persons a local education authority shall consider how far they can avail them- 
selves of the services of private medical practitioners. 

Abolition of Fees in Public Elementary Schools. 

26. (1) No fees shall be charged or other charges of any kind made in any 
public elementary school, except as provided by the Education (Provision of 
Meals) Act, 1906, and the Local Education Authorities (Medical Treatment) 
Act, 1909. 



EDUCATION IN" GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 103 

(2) During a period of five years from the appointed day the Board of Edu- 
cation shall in each year, out of moneys provided by Parliament, pay to the 
managers of a school maintained but not provided by a local education author- 
ity in which, fees were charged immediately before the appointed day, the 
average yearly sum paid to the managers under section 14 of the Education 
Act, 1902, during the five years immediately preceding the appointed day. 
******* 

Administrative Provisions. 

27. If the governing body of any school or educational institution not liable 
to inspection by any Government department, or,- if there is no governing body, 
the headmaster requests the Board of Education to inspect the school or in- 
stitution and to report thereon, the Board of Education may do so, if they think 
fit, free of cost ; but this section shall be without prejudice to the provisions 
relating to the Central Welsh Board contained in subsection (1) of section 3 
of the Board of Education Act, 1899. 

28. (1) In order that full information may be available as to the provision 
for education and the use made of such provision in England and Wales — 

(a) It shall be the duty of the responsible person as hereinafter defined, in 
respect of every school or educational institution not in receipt of 
grants from the Board of Education, to furnish to the Board of Edu- 
cation in a form prescribed by the board — ■ 

(i) In the case of a school or educational institution existing at 
the appointed day, within three months of that day ; 

(ii) In the case of a school or educational institution opened 
after the appointed day, within three months of the opening thereof; 
the name and address of the school or institution and a short de- 
scription of the school or institution ; 
(h) It shall be the duty of every such responsible person when required by 
the Board of Education to furnish to the board such further particulars 
with respect to the school or institution as may be prescribed by regu- 
lations made by the board : 
Provided, That the board may exempt from both or either of the above 
obligations any schools or educational institutions with respect to which the 
necessary information is already in the possession of the board or is otherwise 
available. 

(2) If the responsible person fails to furnish any information required by 
this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding 
£10, and to a penalty not exceeding £5 for every day on which the failure 
continues after conviction therefor. 

(3) For the purposes of this section "the responsible person" means the 
secretary or person performing the duty of secretary to the governing body 
of the school or institution, or, if there is no governing body, the headmaster 
or person responsible for the management of the school or institution. 

(4) Any regulations made by the Board of Education under this section 
with respect to the particulars to be furnished shall be laid before Parliament 
as soon as may be after they are made. 

29. (1) Notwithstanding anything in the Education Act, 1902, the appoint- 
ment of all teachers of secular subjects not attached to the staff of any par- 
ticular public elementary school and teachers appointed for the purpose of 
giving practical instruction, pupil teachers, and student teachers, shall be 
made by the local education authority, and it is hereby declared that the local 
education authority have power to direct the managers of any public elementary 



104 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

schools not provided by them to make arrangements for the admission of any 
such teachers to the schools. 

******* 

30. (1) The managers of a public elementary school not provided by the 
local education authority, if they wish to close the school, shall give 18 months' 
notice to the local education authority of their intention to close the school, 
and a notice under this provision shall not be withdrawn except with the 
consent of the local education authority. 

(2) If the managers of a school who have given such a notice are unable 
or unwilling to carry on the school up to the expiration of the period specified 
in the notice, the schoolhouse shall be put at the disposal of the local education 
authority, if the authority so desire, for the whole or any part of the period, 
free of charge, for the purposes of a school provided by them, but subject 
to an obligation on the part of the authority to keep the schoolhouse in repair 
and to pay any outgoings in respect thereof, and to allow the use of the school- 
house and the school furniture by the persons who were the managers of the 
school to the like extent and subject to the like conditions as if the school had 
continued to l>e carried on by those managers. 

******* 

31. Where there are two or more public elementary schools not provided by 
the local education authority of the same denominational character in the same 
locality, the local education authority, if they consider that it is expedient 
for the purpose of educational efficiency and economy, may, with the approval of 
the Board of Education, give directions for the distribution of the children in 
(hose schools according to age, sex, or attainments, and .otherwise with respect 
to the organization of the schools; and for the grouping of the schools under 
one body of managers constituted in the manner provided by subsection (2) of 
section 12 of the Education Act, 1902 : Provided, That, if the constitution of the 
body of managers fails to be determined by the Board of Education under that 
section, the board shall observe the principles and proportions prescribed by sec- 
tions G and 11 of that act ; and that, if the managers of a school affected by and 
directions given under this section request a public inquiry, the board shall hold 
a public inquiry before approving those directions. 

32. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 6 of the Education Act, 
1902. or, in the case of London, subsection (1) of section 2 of the Education 
(London) Act, 1903, as to the appointment of managers, any public elementary 
school which in the opinion of the board is organized for the sole purpose of 
giving advanced instruction to older children may be managed in such manner 
as may be approved by the local education authority, and, in the case of a 
school not provided by that authority, also by the managers of the school. 

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sections 6 and 8 of the Education 
Act, 1902, or in section 2 of the Education (London) Act, 1903, the provision of 
premises for classes in practical or advanced instruction for children attending 
from more than one public elementary school shall not be deemed to be the 
provision of a new public elementary school, and any class conducted in such 
premises may be managed in such manner as may be approved by the local 
education authority. 

. 33. Except as expressly provided by this act, nothing in this act shall affect 
the provisions of the education acts relating to public elementary schools not 
provided by the local education authority or the provisions of Part II, of the 
Education Act, 1902. 

34. (1) A local education authority may be authorized' to purchase land 
compulsorily for the purpose of any of their powers or duties under the educa- 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 105 

tion acts, by means of an order submitted to the Board of Education and con- 
firmed by the board in accordance with the provisions contained in paragraphs 
(1) to (13) of the First Schedule to the Housing, Town Planning, etc.,, Act, 
1909, and those provisions shall have effect for the purpose, with the substitu- 
tion of the Board of Education for the local government board, of the local 
education authority for the local authority, and of references to the education 
acts for references to this act"; Provided, That the Board of Education shall 
not confirm any such order even when unopposed if they are of opinion that the 
land is unsuited for the purpose for which it is proposed to be acquired. 

(2) The powers given by tins section in relation to the compulsory purchase 
of laud by the local education authority shall be in substitution for any other 
powers existing for that purpose, but without prejudice to any powers con- 
ferred by any provisional order confirmed by Parliament before the appointed 
day. 

35. A local education authority may, with the consent of the Board of Educa- 
tion, who shall consult the authority of the area in which the proposed site is 
situated, provide a public elementary school, in cases where it appears con- 
venient to do so, on a site outside their area for the use of children within 
their area, and for the purposes of the education acts a school so provided 
shall be deemed to be situated within the area of the authority. 

36. (1) It shall not be obligatory on a county council to charge on or raise 
within particular areas any portion of such expenses as are mentioned in para- 
graph (c) or paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section 18 of the Education 
Act, 1902, and accordingly each of those paragraphs shall have effect as if for 
the word " shall " there was substituted the word " may " and as if the words 
"less than one-half or" were omitted therefrom ; and, where before the passing 
of tins act any portion of such expenses has been charged on or allocated to any 
area, the county council may cancel or vary the charge of allocation. 

(2) Before charging any expenses under section IS (1) (a) of the Education 
Act, 1902, on any area situate within a borough or urban district the council of 
which is an authority for the purposes of Part III of the Education Act. 1902, 
a county council shall consult the council of the borough or urban district con- 
cerned. 

37. Any expenses incurred by a council in connection with any provisional 
order for the purposes of the education acts, or any order under this act for 
the purpose of the acquisition of land, shall be defrayed as expenses of t lie 
council under the Education Act, 1902, and the council shall have the same 
power of borrowing for the purpose of these expenses as they have under sec- 
tion 19 of the Education Act, 1902, for the purpose of the expenses therein 
mentioned. 

38. Any council having powers under the education acts may, subject to regu- 
lations made by the Board of Education, defray as part of their expenses under 
those acts any reasonable expenses incurred by them in paying subscriptions 
toward the cost of, or otherwise in connection with, meetings or conferences 
held for the purpose of discussing the promotion and organization of educa- 
tion or educational administration, and the attendance of persons nominated 
by the council at any such meeting or conference : Provided, That — 

(a) The expenses of more than three persons in connection with any meet- 

ing or conference shall not be paid except with the previous sanction 
of the Board of Education ; 

(b) Payments for traveling expenses and subsistence shall be in accordance 

with the scale adopted by the council ; 



106 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

(c) Expenses shall not be paid in respect of any meeting or conference out- 

side the United Kingdom unless the Board of Education have sanc- 
tioned the attendance of persons nominated by the council at the meet- 
ing or the conference ; 

(d) No expenses for any purpose shall be paid under this section without 

the approval of the Board of Education, unless expenditure for the 
purpose has been specially authorized or ratified by resolution of 
the council, after special notice has been given to members of the 
council of the proposal to authorize or ratify the expenditure, or, 
where a council has delegated its powers under this section to the 
education committee, by resolution of that committee after like notice 
has been given to the members thereof. 

39. The powei-s of a local education authority for the purposes of Part III 
of the Education Act, 1902, shall include a power to prosecute any person under 
section 12 of the Children Act, 1908, where the person against whom the offense 
was committed was a child within the meaning of this act, and to pay any 1 
expenses incidental to the prosecution. 

40. (1) The Board of Education may hold a public inquiry for the purpose 
of the exercise of any of their powers or the performance of any of their duties 
under the education acts. 

(2) The following provisions shall (except as otherwise provided by the 
education acts) apply to any public inquiry held by the Board of Education: 

(a) The. board shall appoint a person or persons to hold the inquiry; 

(b) The person or persons so appointed shall hold a sitting or sittings in 

some convenient place in the neighborhood to which the subject of 
the inquiry relates, and thereat shall hear, receive, and examine any 
evidence and information offered, and hear and inquire into the ob- 
jections or representations made respecting the subject matter of the 
inquiry, with power from time to time to adjourn any sitting; 

(c) Notice shall be published In such manner as the board direct of every 

such sitting, except an adjourned sitting, seven days at least before 
the holding thereof; 

(d) The person or persons so appointed shall make a report in writing to 

the board setting forth the result of the inquiry and the objections and 
representations, if any, made thereat, and any opinion or recommen- 
dations submitted by him or them to the board ; 

(e) The board shall furnish a copy of the report to any local education 

authority concerned with the subject matter of the inquiry, and, on 
payment of such fee as may be fixed by the board, to any person in- 
terested ; 

(/) The board may, where it appears to them reasonable that such an order 
should be made, order the payment of the whole or any part of the 
costs of the inquiry either by any local education authority to whose 
administration the inquiry appears to the board to be incidental, or by 
the applicant for the inquiry, and may require the applicant for an in- 
quiry to give security for the costs thereof; 

(ff) Any order so made shall certify the amount to be paid by the local 
education authority or the applicant, and any amount so certified 
shall, without prejudice to the recovery thereof as a debt due to the 
Crown, be recoverable by the board summarily as a civil debt from the 
authority or the applicant as the case may be. 

41. The minutes of the proceedings of a local education authority, and, where 
a local education authority delegate to their education committee any powers 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 107 

and the acts and proceedings of the education committee as respects the 
exercise of those powers are not required to be submitted to the council for 
their approval, the minutes of the proceedings of the education committee 
relating to the exercise of those powers shall be open to the inspection of any 
ratepayer at any reasonable time during the ordinary hours of business on 
payment of a fee of 1 shilling, and any ratepayer may make a copy thereof 
or take an extract therefrom. 

42. (1) For tbe yearly sum payable to the Central Welsh Board under the 
scheme regulating the intermediate and technical education fund of any 
county, as defined by the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 1889, there shall 
be substituted — 

(a) A yearly sum equal to a percentage not exceeding 22 i per cent fixed 

from time to lime at a uniform rate for every county by the Central 
Welsh Board of the sum produced by a rate of 1 halfpenny in the 
pound for the preceding year, calculated in the manner provided by 
subsection (3) of section S of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 
18S9 ; and 

(b) A yearly sum equal to 5 per cent of the net income for the preceding year 

of any endowment comprised in the intermediate and technical educa- 
tion fund of the county, or, in the alternative, for each year during 
such period as may be agreed with the Central Welsh Board, such 
yearly as that board may agree to accept in lieu thereof. 

(2) For the purpose of ascertaining the said net income there shall be de- 
ducted from the gross income all proper expenses and outgoings in respect 
of administration and management of the endowment (including charges for 
interest on and repayment of loans and replacement of capital), and any 
sums required by the scheme to be treated as capital, and the term " endow- 
ment " shall include augmentations acquired by the investment of surplus 
income whether derived from endowment or county rate, or from any other 
source, but not property occupied for the purposes of the scheme. 

(3) The power of charging capitation fees for scholars offered for exami- 
nation conferred on the Central Welsh Board by the scheme of the 13th day 
of May, 1896, regulating the Central Welsh Intermediate Education Fund, 
shall cease. 

(4) The provisions of this section shall have effect and be construed as part 
of the schemes regulating the Central Welsh Intermediate Education Fund 
and the intermediate and technical education funds of counties in Wales and 
Monmouthshire, and may be repealed or altered by future schemes accordingly. 

43. All orders, certificates, notices, requirements, and documents of a local 
education authority under the education acts, if purporting to be signed by 
the clerk of the authority or of the education committee, or by the director of, 
or secretary for, education, shall until the contrary is provided be deemed 
to be made by the authority and to have been so signed, and may be proved 
by the production of a copy thereof purporting to have been so signed. 

Educational Grants. 

44. (1) The Board of Education shall, subject to the provisions of this act, 
by regulations provide for the payment to local education authorities out of 
moneys provided by Parliament of annual substantive grants in aid of education 
of such amount and subject to such conditions and limitations as may be pre- 
scribed in the regulations, and nothing in any act of Parliament shall prevent 
the Board of Education from paying grants to an authority in respect of any 
expenditure which the authority may lawfully incur. 



108 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

(2) Subject to the regulations made under the next succeeding subsection, 
the total sums paid to a local education authority out of moneys provided by 
Parliament and the total taxation account in aid of elementary education or 
education other than elementary, as the case may be, shall not be less than 
one-balf of the net expenditure of the authority recognized by the Board of 
Education as expenditure in aid of which parliamentary grants should be 
made to the authority, and, if the total sums payable out of those moneys to 
an authority in any year fall short of one-half of that expenditure, there shall 
be paid by the Board of Education to that authority, out of moneys provided 
by Parliament, a deficiency grant equal to the amount of the deficiency, provided 
that a deficiency grant shall not be so paid as to make good to the authority 
any deductions made from a substantive grant. 

(3) The Board of Education may make regulations for the purpose of 
determining how the amount of any deficiency grant payable under this section 
shall be ascertained and paid, and those regulations, shall if the Treasury so 
direct, provide for the exclusion in the ascertainment of that amount of all or 
any sums paid by any Government department other than the Board of Educa- 
tion and of all or any expenditure which in the opinion of the Board of Educa- 
tion is attributable to a service in respect of which payments are made by a 
Government department other than the Board of Education. 

******* 

(5) If, by reason of the failure of an authority to perform its duties under 
the education acts or to comply with the conditions on which grants are made, 
the deficiency grant is reduced or a deduction is made from any substantive 
grant exceeding £500 or the amount which would be produced by a rate of a 
halfpenny in the pound whichever is the less, the Board of Education shall 
cause to be laid before Parliament a report stating the amount of and the 
reasons for the reduction or deduction. 

(6) Any regulations made by the Board of Education for the payment 
of grants shall be laid before Parliament as soon as may be after they are 
made. 

Educational Trusts. 

45. (1) lite Majesty may by Order in Council constitute and incorporate with 
power to hold land without license in mortmain one or more official trustees 
of educational trust property, and may apply to the trustee or trustees so 
constituted the provisions of the Charitable Trusts Acts, 1853 to 1914, relating 
to the official trustee of charity lands and the official trustees of charitable 
funds so far as they relate to endowments which are held for or ought to be 
applied to educational purposes. 

(2) On the constitution of an official trustee or official trustees of educational 
trust property — 

(«) All land or estates or interests in land then vested in the official trustee 
of charity lands which are held by him as endowments for solely edu- 
cational purposes, and 
(b) All securities then vested in the official trustees of charitable funds which 
those trustees certify to be held by them as endowments for solely 
educational purposes, 
shall by virtue of this act vest in the official trustee or trustees of educational 
trust property upon the trusts and for the purposes for which they were held 
by the official trustee of charity lands and the official trustees of charitable 
funds, and, on such a certificate by the official trustees of charitable funds as 
aforesaid being sent to the person having charge of the books or registers iu 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELANb. 109 

which any such securities are inscribed or registered, that person shall make 
such entries in the books or registers as may be necessary to give effect to 
this section. 

(3) If any question arises as to whether an endowment or any part of an 
endowment is held for or ought to be applied to solely educational purposes, 
the question shall be determined by the Charity Commissioners. 

******* 

(3) Every assurance of land or personal estate to be laid out in the purchase 
of land for educational purposes, including every assurance of land to any local 
authority for any educational purpose or purposes for which such authority is 
empowered by any act of Parliament to acquire land, sball be sent to the 
offices of the Board of Education in London for the purpose of being recorded 
in the books of the board as soon as may be after the execution of the deed or 
other instrument of assurance, or in the case of a will after the death of the 
testator. 

47. Where, under any scheme made before the passing of this act relating to 
an educational charity, the approval of the Board of Education is required to the 
exercise by the trustees under the scheme of a power of appointing new 
trustees, the scheme shall, except in such cases as the board may otherwise 
direct, have effect as if no such approval was required thereunder, and the board 
may by order make such modifications of any such scheme as may be neces- 
sary to give effect to this provision. 

General. 

48. (1) In this act, unless the context otherwise requires — 

The expression "child " means any child up to the age when his parents 
cease to be under an obligation to cause him to receive efficient elementary 
instruction or to attend school under the enactments relating to ele- 
mentary education and the by-laws made thereunder ; 

The expression " young person " means a person under 18 years of age who 
is no longer a child ; 

The expression " parent " in relation to a young person includes guardian 
and every person who is liable to maintain or has the actual custody of 
the young person ; 

The expression "practical instruction" means instruction in cookery, laun- 
dry work, housewifery, dairy work, handicrafts, and gardening, and such 
other subjects as the board declare to be subjects of practical instruction ; 

The expression " school term " means the term as fixed by the local educa- 
tion authority ; 

The expression "sea service" has the same meaning as in the' Merchant 
Slopping Acts, 1S94 to 1910, and includes sea-fishing service; 

Other expressions have the same meaning as in the education acts. 
(2) In the education acts the expressions "employ" and "employment" 
used in reference to a child or young person, include employment in any labor 
exercised by way of trade or for the purposes of gain, whether the gain be to 
the child or young person or to any other person. 

49. Section 120 of the Local Government Act, 18SS, which relates to compen- 
sation to existing officers, shall apply to officers serving under local education 
authorities at the passing of this act, who, by virtue of this act or anything done 
in pursuance or in consequence of this act, suffer direct pecuniary loss by 
abolition of office or by diminution or loss of fees or salary, subject as follows: 

(o) Teachers in public elementary schools maintained by a local education 
authority shall be deemed to be officers serving under that authority. 



110 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1018. 

(e) Any expenses shall be paid by the council under whom the officer wag 
serving at the date when the loss arose out of the fund or rate out 
of which the expenses of the council under the education acts are paid, 
and, if any compensation is payable otherwise than by way of an 
annual sum, the payment of that compensation shall be a purpose for 
which a council may borrow for the purposes of those acts. 
******* 

52. (1) This act may be cited as the Education Act, 1918, and shall be 
read as one with the Education Acts, 1870 to 1916, and those acts and tins 
act may be cited together as the Education Acts, 1870 to 1918, and are in this 
act referred to as " the education acts." 

(2) This act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. 

(3) This act shall come into operation on the appointed day, and the ap- 
pointed day shall be such day as the Board of Education may appoint and 
different days may be appointed for different purposes and for different provi- 
sions of this act, for different areas or parts of areas,* and for different per- 
sons or classes of persons : Provided, That the appointed day for the purposes of 
subsections (1) and (2) of section 8 shall not be earlier than the termination of 
the present war, and for the purposes of paragraph (iii) of subsection (2) of 
section 13 shall not be earlier than three years after the passing of this act, and 
that for a period of seven years from the appointed day the duty of the council 
of a county (other than the London County Council) shall not include a duty to 
establish certified schools for boarding and lodging physically defective and 
epileptic children. 



SCOTLAND. 

THE SCHOOLS DURING THE WAR. 

Education in Scotland passed through the same vicissitudes since 
the outbreak of the war as in England. The Scotch Department of 
Education, local school board managers, and teachers devoted much 
energy to minimizing the interference with education created by the 
new conditions, but the inevitable dislocation occurred. Many of 
the school buildings during the past two years continued to be under 
military occupation. This led to the introduction in many places of 
" double shifts," which, however, did not prove to be a satisfactory 
experiment .educationally. The Avorst feature was a continuance of 
irregular attendance and of the granting of exemptions, especially 
in rural agricultural areas. The number of school boards granting 
no exemptions was 320 in 1913-14; 263 in 1911-15; 126 in 1915-16; 
and 112 in 1916-17. 

The relaxation of discipline resulted in an increase of juvenilo 
delinquency, which attracted the attention of all interested in the 
training of the young. Even allowing for the fact that man}' of 
the offenses which are statistically set down as crimes are only 
''childish pranks" or the "assertion of independence of control," 
the problem became serious. Here, as elsewhere, the establishment 



EDUCATION" IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Ill 

of pla}' centers, supported by Government grants, provided a means 
for redirecting the youthful energies into right channels. Other 
agencies such as scouts, brigades and clubs, employment agencies 
maintained by school boards, played their part in this crisis. 

The greater prosperity of the country conduced to an improve- 
ment in the general welfare of the children, a fortunate circumstance 
in view of the difficulties involved in maintaining the school medical 
service on a normal basis. While there was a considerable decrease 
in the number of children medically inspected, there was an appre- 
ciable increase in the provision and expenditure for medical treat- 
ment. 

The depletion in the number of available teachers was met by an 
increase in the size of classes, "by the continuance of teachers who 
had reached the age for retirement, by the temporary return of 
women teachers who had given up teaching on their marriage, and 
by the employment of a limited number of persons of good education 
likely to be of use in schools for which no technically qualified teacher 
was available." The output of the teachers' training colleges also 
appears to have been satisfactory. When the question of salaries 
became urgent, the Treasury agreed in 1016-17 " to allow a grant 
of one-half of the bonus paid by the managers, subject to a maximum 
grant of £5 in the case of teachers in receipt of salaries not exceed- 
ing £110 or of £1 in the case of teachers whose salaries exceeded 
£110 but did not exceed £160. : ' The total grant paid in this way 
amounted to $164,955. In the following year an additional grant of 
$2,649,280 for education was made to Scotland, of which $1,970,875 
was devoted to the purpose of securing definite increases of salary to 
replace the bonus. With the amount added by school boards there 
accrued to teachers an average increase of $90. For the year 1918-19 
an additional appropriation was made by Parliament of $2,000,000 
for the improvement of teachers' salaries and pensions. In July, 
1917, the department appointed a committee on the remuneration of 
teachers in Scotland, which issued a report later in the same year 
embodying proposed scales of salaries for teachers and other recom- 
mendations. (See pp. 112f.) The department also devoted part of 
the new grant to increasing the pensions of retired teachers to a 
minimum of $260 a year. 

Intermediate and secondary education showed increasing enroll- 
ment and increasing attendance. In 1914-15 the number of pupils in 
higher grade or intermediate schools was 29,488 ; in 1915-16, 30,699 ; 
and in 1916-17, 31,949. In the grant-earning secondary schools the 
enrollment in 1915 was 19,866; in 1915-16, 20,317; and in 1916-17, 
21,012. Continuation classes and central institutions for technical 
instruction, both of which are normally attended by older pupils than 
the full-time intermediate and secondary schools, were adversely 



112 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

affected by the war and showed considerable decrease in enrollment 
and attendance. The central institutions, however, directed their at- 
tention and resources to war work and also undertook the training of 
disabled soldiers and sailors in cooperation with local pension com- 
mittees. 

The total net ordinary expenditure of the school boards for 1914-15 
was $20,388,730 and the income $20,853,725, of which $9,387,005 
came from the department. In 1915-16 all these items indicate an 
increase; the expenditure was $20,534,460, the income $21,098,730, 
and the department grant was $9,451,905, a sum which was consid- 
erably increased in the following year by the extraordinary grant for 
the increase of salaries. 

TEACHERS'. SALARIES. 1 

The effect of the Avar on salaries of teachers in Scotland was similar 
to that in England and Wales, with similar attempts to meet the 
situation by the grant of bonuses. In July. 1917, the Government 
appointed a departmental committee on the remuneration of teachers 
in Scotland 2 which considered and reported in November, 1917, on 
salaries in elementary and secondary schools, and in training colleges. 
The general considerations determining the report of the committee 
were as follows: 

In considering the larger and more important part of our reference, viz, the 
suitable scales of salary for different classes of teachers, we desired to approach 
the question not solely, nor even mainly, as one involving the interests of a 
single profession, but as one vitally affecting the welfare of the whole com- 
munity. That welfare must depend, in increasing measure, upon the efficiency 
of national education; and the fundamental requirement for securing this is 
that there should be an adequate supply of teachers of high capacity, proved 
aptitude, and thorough training. This can not be attained unless the remunera- 
tion is such as to make the teaching profession one which may compete with 
olher professions in securing recruits of sufficient capacity, and in repaying these 
recruits for the time and labor spent in their special training. To attract such 
recruits it is necessary not only that a fair salary should be offered to begin 
with, but — and it is an even more vital condition — that sufficiently attractive 
prospects should be opened to those who have served for a certain number of 
years. 

Following this line of inquiry the committee came to the following 
general conclusions : 

1. That not only as a temporary war measure, but as a permanent necessity, 
in order to maintain an efficient teaching profession in the interests of the coun- 
try, the general remuneration of teachers must be raised, and that an equaliza- 
tion of the scale of salaries for similar classes of schools over the country is 
desirable. 



1 See footnote, p. 57. 

2 Report of a Departmental Committee on the Remuneration of Teachers in Scotland, 
Edinburgh, 1917. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 113 

2. That this can not be attained by any continuation of or extension of the 
bonus system. 

3. That, while an adequate initial salary must be provided, it is even of greater 
importance that improved prospects should be opened to those who attain a cer- 
tain length of service, and have proved their competency and their aptitude for 
the profession. 

4. That the scale should take account of — 

(a) The length and character of the preliminary training. 

(b) Length of service. 

(c) The responsibility of the post held and its demands on the capacity 

and energy of a teacher. 

The scales recommended by the committee are in every case higher 
than those prevailing at present and determined by local and acci- 
dental circumstances. While aware of the large increase of expendi- 
ture involved, the committee declares it to be its — 

firm and considered conviction, however, that the scheme * * * can not be 
attained except, first, by an extension of school areas ; and, secondly, by a very 
large proportion of the additional amount required being provided by the 
central authority. * * * Whatever the cost, if it is proved to be necessary 
lor high educational efficiency, we can not afford the ultimate extravagance 
which is involved in undue parsimony in such a case. It should not be over- 
looked that the aim of the proposed standard of salaries * * * is not so 
much to improve the position and prospects of the teaching profession, as to 
secure in the future, for the benefit of the State, an adequate supply of amply 
efficient recruits for our educational army. 

THE REFORM OF EDUCATION. 

The demands for educational reorganization in Scotland have been 
as insistent as in England and were supported by the public and the 
teachers. The directions of desirable reforms were summarized in 
a report 1 of the Scottish education reform committee, an organization 
representing the Educational Institute, the Secondary Educational 
Association, and the Class Teachers' Federation. The attitude of 
the teachers on the desirability of a national program that would 
unify all branches of education on the basis of national needs is well 
indicated by the amalgamation of their three principal organizations 
in the Educational Institute. The professional .solidarity thus at- 
tained offers a guarantee of educational progress. The education 
reform committee through a number of subcommittees issued recom- 
mendations on administration and finance, general education, the 
education of women, technical and university education, professional 
training and status, and moral education. The report is a valuable 
contribution, and, like similar reports in England, enriches educa- 
tional thought and furnishes a firm foundation for future recon- 
struction. 

'-Reform in Scottish Education, being the Report of the Scottish Education Reform 
Committee. (Edinburgh, 1917.) 

106400°— 19 8 



114 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1016-1918. 

The committee urges the abolition of the parish school board system 
and the substitution of county councils and town councils, acting 
through education committees. Voluntary and endowed schools 
should be brought within the scope of the national system. For the 
purpose of coordinating local and central control of education the 
appointment is recommended of a national education council, con- 
sisting of representatives of (a) the Scotch Education Department; 
(5) local education authorities; (c) universities, provincial com- 
mittees, central institutions; (d) teachers engaged in the various 
types of schools; (e) other legitimate interests. Such a body would 
make available the advice of experts on a larger scale than by means 
of the representation of teachers on the local education committees, 
which is also advocated. The nationalization of the educational sys- 
tem should, in the opinion of the committee, be stimulated by a re- 
vision of the methods of making grants, so that two main purposes 
will be promoted — the establishment of a national scale of salaries 
and the encouragement of progress by the assumption of a definite 
share of other approved expenditure. In addition to these two prin- 
ciples, special aid should be given to the highlands and the islands 
to equalize the burden of these poorer districts. 

On the subject of school organization the committee emphasizes 
the need of medical inspection and treatment and other provisions 
for physical welfare. Attendance at school for full time should be 
made compulsory up to 15, and for part time up to 18. Recommen- 
dations are offered on the size of schools and classes. The curricu- 
lum should be reviewed in order to determine what subjects are indis- 
pensable and to eliminate what is merely traditional and nonessential. 
The time saved in this wa} T , and by the simplification of spelling and 
by the introduction of the metric system and decimal coinage, could 
be utilized for practical work. Emphasis is placed on the importance 
of religious instruction and moral education, direct, indirect, and 
incidental, not only in and through the school, but also by the cooper- 
ation of all the influences affecting the life of children. "Inter- 
national polity should be one of the aims of moral education, and the 
ethical code of the individual ought, mutatis mutandis, to be that for 
the nation as well." Differentiation, of course, is urged to meet the 
needs of girls and of pupils in rural intermediate and secondary 
schools. Improvements are advocated in the system of external ex- 
aminations. 

Since " the key of all educational reform lies in the improvement 
of the status, training, conditions of service, and emoluments of the 
teacher," these subjects receive detailed consideration. 'The prelimi- 
nary training of candidates for the profession should be the same as 
that of other students in secondary schools, and their admission to 
training colleges should be in the hands of a board of control repre- 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 115 

senting the provincial committees and the training centers. The 
training colleges should be affiliated as professional schools with the 
universities in which the students should pursue their academic 
studies. The length of the training course should be three years for 
undergraduates and one year for graduates. Teachers should not be 
granted certificates before the age of 21, while two years' satisfactory 
service should be required for the final certificate. Greater freedom 
for the teachers and their representation on bodies administering 
education are measures suggested for the improvement both of their 
status and of education in general, to both of which a national scale 
of salaries and prospects for advancement to the inspectorate would 
contribute. 

In discussing technical education the report considers the raising 
of the school leaving age to 15, and compulsory attendance at con- 
tinuation classes fundamental to the efficiency of apprenticeship, 
which should be made obligatory wherever practicable. The coopera- 
tion of teachers and expert advisers in technical education, the co- 
ordination of efforts in the technical schools, central institutions, and 
universities, close relationships between the trades and technical edu- 
cation, and the promotion of scientific and industrial research are 
regarded as essential. Similar recommendations are made for com- 
mercial education. The universities should cooperate with secondary, 
technical, and commercial schools, and utilize by affiliation work in 
other institutions on a university level. More attention should be 
given to the teaching of pure and applied science, to modern lan- 
guages, and to education by the establishment of a chair in this sub- 
ject in each university. Greater autonomy among the universities 
and specialization of the various universities along different lines 
should be encouraged. Finally " a university should be the center 
of its educational area, and should lend all its resources and influence 
to the higher education of the working population," employing 
methods that have been attended with so much success in the organi- 
zation of the Workers' Educational Association in England and the 
people's high schools in Denmark. 

THE SCOTTISH EDUCATION BILL. 

The need of some reorganization is perhaps greater in Scotland 
than in England, which, eliminating the smaller area, developed a 
sound administrative system in 1902. The remarkable educational 
tradition of the country has tended to retard the development of an 
administrative reform more suited to modern needs. Successful as 
this tradition has been in selecting talent and promoting boys of 
ability, it has not been effective in raising the general average. As 
in England, compulsory attendance laws were subject to local exemp- 
tions, voluntary measures for educating adolescent boys and girls 



116 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 191G-1918. 

were not successful, and in many parts of the country accessible 
secondary schools were not provided. Under the existing system 
there are nearly 1,000 school boards elected ad hoc in the burghs and 
parishes; each voluntary and endowed school is under its own ad- 
ministrative authority; while secondary education since 1908 is ad- 
ministered by nearly 40 secondary school committees. 

At the close of 1917 a bill to reduce this system to some more uni- 
fied plan of organization was introduced in Parliament by the Secre- 
tary for Scotland. The bill followed the English administrative 
system somewhat — each county council and the councils of the five 
chief burghs (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, and Leith), 
were to be the education authorities of their respective areas, assisted 
by district education committees and local school committees. This 
proposal met with considerable opposition, the fear being expressed 
that the administration of education would be reduced to the level of 
that of sewers, water, and gas. If the smaller local school board must 
surrender its functions to a board covering a wider area, that board, 
too, should be elected ad hoc and in this way make use of the accumu- 
lated experience of the older school board members. On August G, 
1918, a new bill was substituted, giving effect to this demand for 
ad hoc boards. 

The central administration is to continue as hitherto in the hands 
of the Scotch Education Department, which is empowered to estab- 
lish an advisory council consisting, to the extent of not less than two- 
thirds of its membership, of persons qualified to represent the in- 
terests of education. The function of the council will be to advise 
and make recommendations to the department. 

The counties and the five large burghs are set up as education 
authorities administered by boards specially elected for the purpose 
by the local government electors. The number of electoral districts 
and the constitution of each education authority are to be determined 
by the Secretary for Scotland. Each education authority will be 
required to present a scheme for the approval of the Scotch Educa- 
tion Department for the establishment of school management com- 
mittees, including a representative of the authority, one teacher, and 
local representatives, for the general management and supervision 
of schools, but without any financial powers. 

The education authority will be required to raise money for edu- 
cation and control the expenditure; appoint, transfer, or dismiss 
teachers; establish or discontinue intermediate or secondary schools 
or control institutions for advanced technical instruction; and pro- 
vide bursaries and facilitate attendance at secondary and higher 
schools. Further, the education authority is charged with the duty 
of preparing schemes for the adequate provision of free elementary, 
intermediate, and secondary schools, and for the support of certain 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 117 

schools charging fees, and of drawing up schemes of scales of salaries 
on the basis of a minimum national scale recommended by a depart- 
mental committee. (See pp. 112f.) 

Contributions must also be made by education authorities toward 
the maintenance of the training colleges for teachers in proportion to 
the number of fully qualified teachers in their areas, and aid may also 
be extended to central institutions and universities, provided reason- 
able representation on their governing bodies is granted. "As an 
ancillary means of promoting education" an authority may furnish 
books for general reading not only to children and young persons but 
also to adults, and in this service is to cooperate financially and other- 
. wise with public libraries, where they exist. Each education au- 
thority is required to establish an advisory council of persons quali- 
fied to represent the interests of education, whose duty shall be to 
advise and make recommendations for the consideration of the au- 
thority. For the purpose of developing a national system of adminis- 
tration the bill permits the managers and trustees of voluntary or 
denominational schools to transfer such schools to the education 
authorities. A school so transferred will become a public school, 
receiving the same grants as a public school. The teachers of such a 
school must be taken over by the authority and paid the same scale 
of salaries as public-school teachers, provided that the department is 
satisfied with their qualifications and the church or denomination con- 
cerned with their religious character. The same time will be de- 
voted after the transfer as before it to religious instruction, which is 
to be placed under an approved supervisor. Public grants will not 
be paid to voluntary schools not transferred to the education 
authorities within two years of the passing of the bill. 

If it is found 10 years after the transfer has been made that the 
religious character of the district served by a transferred school has 
changed, such a school by authority of the department may become a 
public school in all respects. On the other hand, on the representa- 
tion of parents as to the need of accommodation for the children of 
any denomination the department may approve the erection of new 
schools of the same character as a transferred school. This provision 
is likely to encounter the severest opposition. It is argued that every 
denomination except that which preponderates in Scotland would be 
enabled by the proposal to have its own sectarian belief propagated in 
schools maintained by public funds. The situation is similar to that 
established in England by the education act of 1902, and the history 
of education across the border since that date may help to remove 
the danger of organized opposition to the bill in general on the 
ground of this provision alone. 

The schools are to be maintained by grants, loans, and an annual 
levy of an education rate to meet any deficiency that may occur. 



118 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

The rate is to be apportioned to each parish in an educational area 
in accordance with the local valuations. The State grants will con- 
sist of the education fund established in 1908, an annual appropria- 
tion equal to the educational estimates for the financial year 1913-11, 
which is to be considered for purposes of the law as the standard 
year, and a sum equal to eleven-eightieths of the excess of the annual 
estimates for education in England and Wales over the sums ex- 
pended in the standard year. 

The bill provides for the establishment of nursery schools for chil- 
dren between the ages of 2 and 5, in which attention must be given 
to health, nourishment, and physical welfare. Compulsory school 
attendance begins at the age of 5 and is extended by the bill to the 
age of 15, the pupils entering and leaving school on definitely fixed 
dates. No exemptions from school attendance may be granted to 
pupils under the age of 13. Child labor on school days between the 
hours of 6 o'clock in the evening and 8 o'clock in the morning is 
entirely prohibited, and children between 13 and 15 may be employed 
onl}' if definitely exempted from school attendance. Street trading 
by children under IT is forbidden, while no child under 15 may bo 
employed in factories, workshops, mines, or quarries. 

Children leaving elementary schools at the age of 15, and not 
exempted b}- virtue of attendance at an intermediate or secondary 
school or of having reached the age of 17 and an equivalent educa- 
tional standard, will be compelled, if the bill passes, to attend a con- 
tinuation school up to the age of 18. For the present the compulsory 
age limit will be 16 within one year of the date on which the bill, 
if enacted, comes into operation, to be raised to 18 as soon thereafter 
as the department may decide. Attendance will be required between 
the hours of 8 o'clock in the morning and T o'clock in the evening 
for 320 hours a year without increasing the total period of employ- 
ment permitted for young persons by Parliament. 

The education authorities, who are permitted to delegate the man- 
agement and supervision of continuation schools to school manage- 
ment committees or to appoint special committees for the purpose, 
on which they are represented, are required, after consultation with 
and with the cooperation of associations and committees of employers 
and workmen in commerce and trades, to draft schemes for con- 
tinuation schools. Such schemes must include English language and 
literature and such other parts of a general education as may be 
deemed desirable, physical exercises, and special instruction intended 
to promote efficiency in the vocation in which the young persons may 
be engaged. Fines for irregular attendance are to be imposed on 
the young persons concerned and on employers who do not afford 
the necessary opportunity for regular and punctual attendance at 
continuation schools. 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 119 

The bill makes no special provision for secondary or higher educa- 
tion, but authorities are indirectly required to increase the facilities 
by the provision that " no child or young person resident in their 
education area who is qualified for attendance at an intermediate or 
secondary school, and in their opinion shows promise of profiting 
thereby, shall be debarred therefrom by reason of the expense in- 
volved." An education authority is accordingly required to furnish 
the necessary assistance in such cases by the payment of fees, travel- 
ing expenses, scholarships, or maintenance allowances to encourage 
attendance not only at intermediate or secondary schools, but also at 
universities, teachers' training colleges, or central institutions for 
technical instruction. 

The bill was passed in November, 1918. The amendment of the 
original plan of administration cleared one of the chief .subjects of 
contention out of the way. Any obstacles that might have been raised 
to the enactment of the continuation school measure had already been 
removed by the discussions on the similar provision in the English 
act. The unanimous support of the teachers was assured by the 
refusal to grant recognition to any schools in which the minimum 
national scale of salaries has not been adopted. The only difficulty 
that remains, and one which has always proved a serious stumbling 
block, is the revival of the religious difficulty involved in the transfer 
of the voluntary schools. The probability is, however, that the na- 
tional needs of the moment will prove sufficient to secure the solidar- 
ity necessary for the enactment of the bill. 

EDUCATION (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1918. 
[8 and 9 Geo. 5. Ch. 48.] 

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS. 

Education Authorities. 
See. 

1. Education authorities. 

2. Electoral divisions and constitution of authorities. 

3. School management committees. 

Potcers and Duties of Education Authorities. 

4. Power to facilitate attendance at secondary schools and other institutions. 

5. Provision of books for general reading. 

6. Schemes for provision of education. 

7. Religious instruction. 

8. Nursery schools. 

0. Contributions to maintenance of certain schools and institutions. 

10. Contribution in respect of nonresident pupils attending schools. 

11. Acquisition of land. 

12. Power to promote or oppose bills. 

13. Expenses of education authorities. 

Extension of School Age — Continuation Classes — Employment of Children and 

Young Persons. 

14. Extension of school age. 

15. Continuation classes. 

16. Amendment of Employment of Children Act, 1903. 

17. School children not to be employed in factories, workshops, mines, or quarries. 



120 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

Voluntary or Denominational Schools. 
Sec. 

18. Transfer of voluntary schools. 

Reformatory and Industrial Schools. 

19. Transfer of powers as to reformatory and industrial schools. 

Advisory Council. 

20. Advisory council. 

Education Grants. 

21. Education (Scotland) fund. 

Election and Proceedings of Education Authorities. 

22. Qualification of electors. 

23. Voting. 

24. Dismissal of teachers. 

25. Advisory councils in education areas. 

2G. Tower to department to aid in bringing act into operation. 

General. 

27. Approval and carrying out of schemes. 

28. Eligibility of women. 

29. Revocation, etc., of Orders in Council. 

30. The department. 

31. Interpretation. 

32. Provisions as to education authorities, school management committees, transfer, and 

modification and repeal of enactments. 

33. Extent, commencement, citation, and construction. 

Chapter 48. 

An Act to make further provision with resped t>> education in Scotland and for purposes 
connected therewith. [21st November, 1018.] 

Beit enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the ml rice 
and consent of the Lards Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present 
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 

Lit neat ion Authorities. 

1. A local authority for the purposes of education (in this act called the 
"education authority ") shall he elected in and for each of the following areas 
(in this act called "education areas"), that is to say, in and for — 

(a) Each of the burghs mentioned in the first schedule to this act (in this 

act called the "scheduled burghs") ; and 

(b) Every county, including every burgh situated therein not being one 

of the scheduled burghs. 

2. (1) For the purpose of such elections, the Secretary for Scotland shall, as 
soon as may be after the passing of this act, by order divide each education area 
into electoral divisions, and in determining the boundaries thereof, he shall 
have regard, so far as may be, to the boundaries of wards in scheduled burghs, 
and of districts, burghs, and parishes in counties. 

(2) The Secretary for Scotland shall also by order determine the number 
of members to be elected to each education authority, and shall apportion them 
among the electoral divisions of the education area. In making such deter- 
mination and apportionment the Secretary for Scotland shall have regard to 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 121 

the population, area, and other circumstances of the scheduled burgh or county, 
as the case may be, and the eleetoral divisions thereof. 

(3) Before making an order under this section, the Secretary for Scotland 
shall cause the proposed order to be published in such manner as to make the 
same known to all persons interested, and shall, after considering any objec- 
tions and representations respecting the proposed order, and causing a local 
inquiry to be held if he sees fit to do so, thereafter make the order and cause 
the same to be forthwith published in the Edinburgh Gazette and in a news- 
paper circulating in the education area. 

3. (1) It shall be the duty of every education authority to prepare and sub- 
mit to the department for their approval a scheme or schemes for the consti- 
tution of committees (in this act called "school management committees") for 
the management of schools or groups of schools under their control throughout 
their education area. 

Every such scheme shall contain provision- 
fa) For the due representation on each school management committee of 
the education authority and of the parents of the children attending 
the schools under the management of such committee; and 
(&) For the appointment thereto, on the nomination of the teachers en- 
gaged in the schools under the management of such committee, or, 
failing such nomination, directly, of at least one such teacher; and 
also 
(c) In the case of a school management committee having under its man- 
agement one or more transferred schools, for the appointment thereto 
of at least one member in whose selection regard shall be had to 
the religious belief of the parents of the children attending such 
school or schools. 
Further, in the case of a county, every such scheme shall have regard to the 
desirability of constituting separate school management committees for indi- 
vidual burghs and parishes, and shall provide for the appointment thereto, on 
the nomination of local bodies (including town and parish councils and at the 
first constitution outgoing school boards), or, failing such nomination, directly, 
of persons resident in the locality and otherwise qualified to represent local 
interests in school management. 

(2) A school management committee shall, subject except as hereinafter 
provided to any regulations and restrictions made by the education authority, 
have all the powers and duties of that authority in regard to the general man- 
agement and supervision of the school or group of schools, including attendance 
thereat : Provided, That in the case of a county a school management committee 
having under its management a secondary school shall have all the said powers 
and duties not subject to any such regulations or restrictions: Provided further, 
That the education authority shall in every case themselves retain, exercise, 'and 
perform all their powers and duties in regard to — 

(«) The raising of money by rate or loan and the general control of ex- 
penditure ; 
(6) The acquisition or holding of land ; 

(c) The appointment, transfer, remuneration, and dismissal of teachers; 

(d) The appointment of bursars and the exercise of the powers conferred 

by the section of this act relating to power to facilitate attendance at 
secondary schools and other institutions; and 

(e) The recognition, establishment, or discontinuance of intermediate or 

secondary schools or of centers of advanced technical instruction. 



122 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1&16-1918. 

Powers and Duties of Education Authorities. 

4. (1) It shall be lawful for an education authority, with a view to securing 
that no child or young person resident in their education area who is qualified 
for attendance at an intermediate or secondary school, and in their opinion 
formed after consideration of a report from the teachers concerned shows 
promise of profiting thereby, shall be debarred therefrom by reason of the ex- 
pense involved, to grant assistance in the case of any such child or young person 
by payment of traveling expenses, or of fees, or of the cost of residence in a 
hostel, or of a bursary or maintenance allowance, or any combination of these 
forms of assistance, or otherwise, as the authority think fit. And it shall also 
be lawful for an education authority similarly to assist any duly qualified person 
resident in their education area to enter or attend a university, or a training 
college, or a central institution (including classes affiliated thereto), or in special 
cases any other educational institution approved for the purpose by the depart- 
ment. 

(2) It shall further be lawful for an education authority to grant assistance 
by payment of traveling expenses necessarily incurred in the case of any person 
resident in their education area in attending continuation classes under a 
scheme for instruction in such classes as in this act provided. 

(3) Any assistance granted under this section shall be such as the education 
authority consider proper and necessary, having regard to the circumstances of 
each case, including the circumstances of the parents. 

5. It shall be lawful for the education authority of a county, as an ancillary 
means of promoting education, to make such provision of books by purchase or 
otherwise as they may think desirable, and to make the same available not only 
to the children and young persons attending schools or continuation classes in 
the county, but also to the adult population resident therein. 

For the purposes of this section an education authority may enter into 
arrangements with public libraries, and all expenses incurred by an education 
authority for those purposes shall be chargeable to the county education 
fund. * * * 

6. (1) It shall be the duty of every education authority within 12 months 
after the appointed day to prepare and submit for the approval of the depart- 
ment — ■ 

(a) A scheme for the adequate provision throughout the education area of 

the authority of all forms of primary, intermediate, and secondary 
education in day schools (including adequate provision for teaching 
Gaelic in Gaelic-speaking areas) without payment of fees, and if the 
authority think fit for the maintenance or support (in addition and 
without prejudice to such adequate provision as aforesaid) of a lim- 
ited number of schools where fees are charged in some or all of the 
classes; 

(b) A scheme for the exercise by the education authority of their powers 

under the section of this act relating to power to facilitate attend- 
ance at secondary schools and other institutions, together with an 
estimate of the expenditure involved therein ; and 

(c) A scheme of scales of salaries for the teachers employed by the author- 

ity satisfying such conditions as to minimum national scales of 
salaries for teachers as may be laid down by the department after 
consultation with representatives of the education authorities and 
of the teaching profession : Provided, That such minimum scales of 
salaries shall be independent of any payment made to teachers out 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 123 

of any bequest or endowment, the object of which is to secure special 
emoluments to any class of teachers or to the teachers of any special 
locality. 

(2) Every education authority may at any time, and shall if and when so 
required by the department, prepare and submit for the approval of the de- 
partment a revised scheme or modifications of an existing scheme under this 
section. 

(3) Schemes prepared and submitted under this section shall include trans- 
ferred schools. 

7. Whereas it has been the custom in the public schools of Scotland to give 
instruction in religion to children whose parents did not object to the instruc- 
tion so given, but with liberty to parents, without forfeiting any of the other 
advantages of the schools, to elect that their children should not receive such 
instruction, be it enacted that education authorities shall be at liberty to con- 
tinue the said custom, subject to the provisions of section 6S (Conscience 
Clause) of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872. 

8. It shall be lawful for every education authority to make arrangements 
for— - 

(a) Supplying or aiding the supply of nursery schools for children over 

2 and under 5 years of age (or such later age as may be approved 
by the department) whose attendance at such a school is necessary or 
desirable for their healthy physical and mental development; and 

(b) Attending to the health, nourishment, and physical welfare of children 

attending nursery schools. 

9. (1) It shall be lawful for every education authority to contribute to the 
maintenance of any school not under their own management which is included 
in the scheme for the provision of education within the education area of that 
authority approved by the department, and in which the teachers are remuner- 
ated at a rate not lower than the rate for teachers of similar qualifications 
employed by the authority, as also to the maintenance of any central institu- 
tion or university, and to make a reasonable representation of the authority 
on the governing body of any such school or central institution (where such 
representation is not already provided for) a condition of any contribution 
other than a contribution required by the following subsection : 

(2) Every education authority shall continue to contribute to the main- 
tenance of any school within their education area but not under their own 
management which at the passing of this act was recognized by the depart- 
ment as an intermediate or secondary school, so long as such school continues 
to be so recognized, an amount not less than the contribution made to such 
school in terms of subsection (4) (a) and (6) of section 17 of the Education 
(Scotland) Act, 1908, in respect of the financial year ending on the 15th day 
of May, 1914, by any secondary education committee whose powers and duties 
are by this act transferred to that education authority: Provided, That the 
amount of the contribution required to be made under this subsection shall 
not exceed the amount by which the income of such school from all other 
sources falls short of the expenditure. 

Any question arising as to the application of this subsection to any school 
or as to the amount of any contribution so made or to be made shall be deter- 
mined by the department, whose determination shall be final. 

(3) Every education authority shall contribute ie each year toward the 
aggregate expense of maintenance of the training college? throughout Scotland 
such sum as the department may determine, being a sum proportioned to the 
number of fully qualified teachers in the service of each edusation authority 
on the 31st day of March in each year. 



124 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

(4) It shall be lawful for every education authority with the sanction of 
the department to contribute to the maintenance of any educational institu- 
tion or agency, where such contribution appears to the department desirable 
for the educational benefit of persons resident within the education area of 
the authority. 

10. Where an education authority or any other governing body provide and 
maintain a school, not conducted for profit, which is recognized by the depart- 
ment, and is attended by children whose parents are resident outwith the edu- 
cation area in which the school is situated, there shall be paid in each year to 
that authority or to that governing body, as the case may be, out of the educa- 
tion fund of each education area in which any such parents are so resident, a 
sum equal to the cost of the education of such children (including in such cost 
repayment of and interest on loans for capital expenditure) after deduction, 
(a) in the case of a school maintained by an education authority, of income 
from all sources of income other than education rate, and (fr) in the case of a 
school maintained by any other governing body, of income from grants made by 
the department and from fees: Provided, That no payment shall be made under 
this section out of the education fund of any education area in respect of any 
child for whom it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that accessible 
accommodation is available in a suitable school provided within that area, 
regard being had to all the circumstances, including the religious belief of his 
parents. 

11. (1) An education authority may from time to time, for the purposes of 
any of their powers and duties under the education acts, acquire, purchase, 
feu, or take on lease any land. 

***** * * 

(3) An education authority may be authorized to purchase land compulsorily 
by means of an order submitted to and confirmed by the department in accord- 
ance with the provisions contained in the first schedule to the Housing, Town 
Planning, etc., Act, 1009, as applied to Scotland. 

13. (1) The expenses of an education authority (including the expenditure 
incurred by school management committees and local advisory councils in^ the 
performance of their duties and approved by the authority) shall be paid out 
of the education fund of the education area, which shall come in place of the 
school fund referred to in section 43 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, and 
of the district education fund referred to in section 17 of the Education (Scot- 
land) Act, 1908. 

There shall be carried to the education fund all money received as grants from 
the department, or raised by way of loan, or transferred to the education author- 
ity under this act, or otherwise received by the education authority for the pur- 
poses of that fund, and not by this act or otherwise specially appropriated, and 
any deficiency in that fund, whether for satisfying present or future liabilities, 
shall be raised by the education authority as hereinafter provided. 

(2) Every education authority shall annually ascertain the amount of such 
deficiency, and, unless and until Parliament otherwise determine in any statute 
amending the law of rating in Scotland, shall allocate and apportion the same 
among the parishes comprised in the education area, according to their respec- 
tive valuations in the valuation roll, and shall, annually on or before a date to 
be fixed jointly by the department and the local government board for Scot- 
land, certify to the parish council of each such parish the amount so allocated 
and apportioned thereupon, and the parish council may and shall impose, levy, 
and collect the same within such parish, under the name of " education rate," 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 125 

in the manner prescribed by section 34 of tlie Poor Law (Scotland) Act, 1845, 
with respect to the poor rate, and along with but as a separate assessment 
from that rate, and shall, from time to time as they collect it, pay over the 
amount collected to the education authority, without any deduction on account 
of the cost of levying and collecting the same; and the laws applicable for the 
time being to the imposition, collection, and recovery of the poor rate shall be 
applicable to the education rate. 

* * * * * * * 

(3) In ascertaining the amount of the deficiency in the education fund. 
and allocating and apportioning the same among the parishes comprised in 
the education area, the education authority shall take into account and have 
regard to — 

(a) Any income, revenue, or contribution paid to the authority in pursu- 

ance of section 46 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872; 

(b) Any money (not included in the preceding paragraph) arising from 

a trust or endowment, and paid to the authority for behoof of any 
school in any parish within the education area, or for the promotion 
of education in any such school, or for or toward the income of any 
teacher therein ; 

(c) The restriction contained in the proviso to the section of this act 

relating to provision of books for general reading; and 

(d) The direction contained in this act as to any surplus or deficiency 

shown in the accounts of a school board made up and balanced as 
at the appointed day. 

(4) Any surplus of education rate which may arise in any one year shall be 
applied for the purposes of the ensuing year, and in like manner any deficiency 
which may occur in any year shall be included in the rate for the ensuing year. 

(5) In the foregoing subsections of this section the expression "parish" 
includes a portion of a parish, and where a parish is comprised in two or more 
education areas, the education authority for each such area shall, in allocating 
and apportioning the amount of the deficiency in the education fund as herein- 
before provided, take into account and have regard to that portion only of 
such parish which is comprised within their own education area ; and no 
education rate shall be imposed, levied, or collected in lany parish or portion 
of a parish other than the education rate for the education area in which such 
parish or portion of a parish is comprised. 

Extension of School Age — Continuation Classes — Employment of Children and 

Young Persons. 

14. (1) The duty of every parent to provide efficient education for his 
children shall continue in respect of each child until that child has attained 
the age of 15 years, and exemption from attendance at school shall not be 
granted to any child who has not attained the age of 13 years; and the pro- 
visions of the education acts which relate to that duty and to such exemption 
are hereby amended accordingly, that is to say: 

In sections 2 and 3 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1901, and in section 7 
of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, the word "thirteen" shall be sub- 
stituted for the word " twelve " and the word " fifteen " for the word 
" fourteen " respectively wherever those words occur in those sections, and 
the word " fifteenth " shall be substituted for the word " fourteenth " in 
subsection (3) of the said section 7. 
(2) It shall be the duty of every education authority to exercise the power 
of prescribing (subject to the approval of the department) dates of commencing 



126 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

and terminating school attendance conferred by subsection (2) of the said 
section 7. 

(3) Nothing in this section shall — 

(a) Prevent any employer from employing any child who is lawfully em- 

ployed by him or by any other person before the appointed day ; or 
(ft) Affect any exemption from attendance at school granted before the 

appointed day ; or 
(c) Affect the provisions of the Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Chil- 
dren (Scotland) Act, 1890, the Education of Defective Children 
(Scotland) Act, 1906, as read with the Education (Scotland) Act, 
190S, or the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1913, 
relating to the attendance at school of the children to whom those 
acts apply. 
15. Sections 9 and 10 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, are hereby 
repealed and in lieu thereof — 

(1) Every education authority shall, after due inquiry and consultation with 
persons concerned in local crafts and industries and with due regard to local 
circumstances generally, prepare and submit for the approval of the department 
a scheme or schemes for the part-time instruction in continuation classes of all 
young persons within the education area of the authority who may under this 
act be required to attend such classes. » 

(2) (a) Every education authority shall prepare and submit for the approval 

of the department under this section — 

(i) Within one year after the appointed day a scheme applicable to young 
persons under the age of 1G years; and 

(ii) As soon thereafter as the department may require a scheme or schemes 
applicable to young persons of any age greater than 1G but not exceed- 
ing IS years. 

(b) When a young person to whom any such scheme applies attains the 

age of 16 years or any greater age as the case may be during any 
continuation class session, he shall for the purposes of this section 
be deemed not to have attained such age until the close of such ses- 
sion, so, however, that a young person shall not by reason of this 
provision be. required to attend continuation classes for more than 
three months after he has attained such age. 

(3) For the better preparation and carrying into effect of schemes under this 
section, and in particular for the registration and classification of young persons 
within their areas, it shall be the duty of education authorities to communicate 
and cooperate with associations or committees of employers and workmen con- 
cerned in the registration or supervision of apprentices in trades where ap- 
prentices are employed, or with similar associations or committees in trades 
or businesses where young persons, though not apprenticed thereto, have the 
prospect of regular employment therein in later years, and to encourage the 
formation of such associations or committees, and to register and classify 
young persons within their areas according to their employment in such trades 
or businesses or in occupations which do not afford the prospect of such regular 
employment, and to have regard to the educational requirements of such young 
persons with respect alike to their present and to their prospective employments. 

(4) Every such scheme shall provide for — 

(a) Instruction in the English language and literature, and in such other 

parts of a general education as may be deemed desirable; 

(b) Special instruction conducive to the efficiency of young persons in 

the employment in which they are engaged or propose to be engaged ; 
and 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 127 

(c) Instruction in physical exercises adapted to age and physique : Pro- 
vided, That for this purpose account may be taken of instruction in 
such exercises afforded at holiday camps or in connection with 
boys' brigades or kindred organizations if the instruction so afforded 
is approved by the education authority as satisfactory. 
(5) The instruction given in continuation classes under any such schema 
shall amount for each young person to an aggregate of at least 320 hours of 
attendance in each year distributed as regards times and seasons as may best 
suit the circumstances of each locality. 

Provided, That no attendance at classes held between the hours of 7 in the 
evening and 8 in the morning shall be reckoned as part of the necessary aggre- 
gate of 320 hours of attendance, except in circumstances and to the extent 
specially approved by the department. 

(G) The obligation to attend continuation classes under any such scheme 
shall not apply to any young person who — 

(i) Is above the age of 14 years on the appointed day; or 
(ii) — (a) Is in full-time attendance at a recognized primary, intermediate, 
or secondary school ; or 

(b) Is shown to the satisfaction of the education authority to be receiving 
suitable and efficient instruction in some other manner ; or 

(iii) — (a) Has been in full-time attendance at a recognized intermediate 
or secondary school until the close of the school session in which he lias 
attained the age of 17 years and is certified by the school authorities 
to have completed the post-intermediate course ; or 

(/)) Has attained the age of 17 years and is shown to the satisfaction of 
the education authority to have completed a course of instruction 
equivalent in value to the post-intermediate course; or 

(c) Has satisfactorily completed a course of training for, and is engaged 
in, the sea service, in accordance with the provisions of any national 
scheme which may hereafter be established, by Order in Council or 
otherwise, with the object of maintaining an adequate supply of well- 
trained British seamen, or, pending the establishment of such scheme, 
in accordance with the provisions of any interim scheme approved by 
the department. 

The obligation to attend continuation classes under any such scheme shall 
not. within a period of three years from the appointed day on which the pro- 
visions of this section come into force, apply to young persons between the 
ages of 16 and 18, nor after such period to any young person who has attained 
the age of 16 before the expiration of that period. 

(7) Whenever a scheme has been approved by the department the education 
authority shall, in such manner as the department may by order prescribe, re- 
quire every young person to whom the obligation to attend continuation clashes 
under such scheme applies to attend with due regularity for instruction in ac- 
cordance with the scheme at such times and places as the education authority 
may appoint : Provided, That an education authority may, upon such conditions 
as they think fit, exempt any young person from the obligation to attend con- 
tinuation classes where, after due inquiry, the authority are satisfied that the 
circumstances justify such exemption, and the provisions of section 3 of the 
Education (Scotland) Act, 1901. relating to the keeping of a register and to the 
power of the department, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to 
exemptions granted under this provision. 

(8) If it appears to an education authority that any young person of the age 
of 15 years and upward is neglecting or failing without reasonable excuse to 
comply with any such requirement of the authority, it shall be lawful for that 



128 BIENSTIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

authority, after due warning to such young person and to his parent and em- 
ployer (if any), to summon the young person, with or without his parent or 
employer, to appear before the authority at any meeting thereof, and to require 
from him or them every information and explanation respecting such neglect 
or failure; and if such young person or his parent or employer, or some 
person on his or their behalf, either does not appear or appears and does not 
satisfy the authority that there is reasonable excuse for such neglect or failure, 
it shall be lawful for the authority to order in writing that such young person 
shall comply with such requirement, or with such other requirement as to at- 
tendance as the authority may direct. The authoi'ity shall cause a copy of 
any such order to be served by post on the young person to whom it relates, 
and if the young person fails to comply with the order he shall be liable, on 
summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding 5 shillings. 

(9) Every employer of labor shall afford to every young person in his em- 
ployment any opportunity necessary for attendance at continuation classes in 
accordance with the requirements of the education authority, including time 
for traveling, and the hours of employment of any young person when added 
to the time necessary for such attendance, including time for traveling, shall 
not in the aggregate exceed in any day or week, as the case may be, the period 
of employment permitted for such young person by any act of Parliament. 

Every employer who fails to afford the opportunity aforesaid, or who employs 
a young person contrary to the provisions of this subsection, shall be liable, on 
summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding 20 shillings, or in case of a 
second or subsequent offense whether relating to the same or to another young 
person, not exceeding £5, and every parent of a young person who has conduced 
to the commission of such an offense by an employer, or to the failure of such 
young person to observe any requirement of the education authority under 
this section, shall be liable on summary conviction to the like penalties. 

(10) An education authority may, in any scheme under this section, make 
provision for the attendance at continuation classes of persons of any age who 
desire to attend such classes although not required by the authority so to do. 

(11 ) An education authority may in any scheme under this section, or by a 
separate scheme or schemes similarly submitted and approved, provide for the 
delegation by the authority, subject to any regulations and restrictions made 
by them, of any of their powers and duties relating to the management and 
supervision of continuation classes (including attendance thereat) within their 
education area or any part thereof to any school management committee or 
combination of such committees within their area, or to a committee or com- 
mittees appointed by the authority for the purpose, consisting in whole or in 
part of members of the authority, and any such school management committee 
or other committee may exercise and shall perform all the powers and duties 
so delegated to them: Provided, That an education authority shall not so dele- 
gate any of the powers and duties which, by the section of this act relating to 
school management committees, the authority are required themselves to re- 
tain, exercise, and perform. 

(12) Where continuation classes provided by the education authority in any 
education area are attended by persons resident without that area, there shall 
be paid in each year to that authority out of the education fund of the educa- 
tion area in which any such persons are so resident a sum equal to the cost of 
the instruction of such persons in those classes (including in such cost repay- 
ment of and interest on loans for capital expenditure) after deduction of in- 
come from all sources of income other than education rate: Provided, That 
no payment shall be made under this subsection out of the education fund of 
any education area in respect of any person for whom it is shown, to the 



EDUCATION" IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 129 

satisfaction of the department, that suitable instruction is available in ac- 
cessible continuation classes within that area, regard being had to all the 
circumstances. 

(13) The provisions of section 4 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, which 
relates to the medical inspection of children, shall apply, with the necessary 
modifications, to the medical examination and supervision of young persons 
under the obligation to attend continuation classes under this section. 

(14) If a young person over the age of 16 or the parent of a young person 
under the age of 16 represents in writing to the local education authority that 
he objects to any part of the instruction given in the continuation classes which 
the young person is required to attend, on the ground that it is contrary to 
his religious belief, or likely to give offense to his religious feelings, the obli- 
gation under this act to attend those classes for the purpose of such instruction 
shall not apply to him ; and the local education authority shall, if practicable, 
arrange for him to receive other instruction in lien thereof or attend other 
classes. 

(15) In this section the expression "young person" includes any person 
between the ages of 15 and 18 years and also any child under the age of 15 
years who has been exempted under the Education (Scotland) Act, 1901, from 
tbe obligation to attend school ; the expressions " employ " and " employment " 
include employment in any labor exercised by way of trade or for purposes of 
gain whether the gain be to the young person or to any other person ; and the 
expression " employer " includes a parent so employing his children. 

16. The Employment of Children Act, 1903, so far as it relates to Scotland, 
shall be amended as follows : 

(1) For subsection (1) of section 8 the following subsection shall be sub- 
stituted — 

A child under the age of 13 shall not be employed on any day on which he 
is required to attend school before the close of school hours on that day nor 
on any day before 8 o'clock in the morning or after 6 o'clock in the evening, 
nor shall any child who is of the age of 18 be so employed unless he has been 
exempted under the Education (Scotland) Act, 1901, from the obligation to 
attend school : Provided, That any local authority may by by-law vary these 
restrictions, either generally or for any specified occupation. 

(2) for subsection (2) of section 3 the following subsection shall be sub- 
stituted — 

No child or young person under the age of 17 shall be employed in street 
trading. 

(3) To section 14 the following definition shall be added — 

The expression " child " means a person under the age of 15 years, and for 
the purposes of this act a child attending school shall be deemed to attain that 
age on the date prescribed for terminating school attendance next succeeding 
the fifteenth anniversary of his birth. 

(4) References to the Education (Scotland) Act, 1901, shall be construed as 
references to that act as amended by this act. ♦ 

17. No child or young person under the age of 15 years who has not been 
exempted under the Education (Scotland) Act, 1901, from the obligation to 
aitend school shall be employed [as in Fisher Act, sec. 14, p. 100]. 

******* 

Voluntary or Denominational Schools. 

18. (1) It shall be lawful at any time after the first election of education 
authorities under this act for the person or persons vested with the title of 

106406°— 19 



130 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

any school which at the passing of this act is a voluntary school within the 
meaning of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1897, with the consent of the trustees 
of any trust upon which such school is held, to transfer the school, together 
with the site thereof and any land or buildings and furniture held and used in 
connection therewith, by sale, lease, or otherwise, to the education authority, 
who shall be bound to accept such transfer, upon such terms as to price, rent, 
or other consideration as may be agreed, or as may be determined, failing 
agreement, by an arbiter appointed by the department upon the application of 
either party. 

(2) Any grant payable to a transferred school which has accrued in respect 
of a period before the date of transfer shall be paid by the department to the 
education authority to whom the school is transferred, and shall be applied 
by that authority in payment of any liabilities on account of the school then 
outstanding and. so far as not required for that purpose, toward the maintenance 
of the school. 

(3) Any school so transferred shall be held, maintained, and managed as a 
public school by the education authority, who shall be entitled to receive grants 
therefor as a public school, and shall have in respect thereto the sole power of 
regulating the curriculum and of appointing teachers : Provided, That — 

(i) The existing staff of teachers shall be taken over by the education 
authority and shall from the date of transfer be placed upon the same scale 
of salaries as teachers of corresponding qualifications appointed to corre- 
sponding positions in other schools of the same authority. 

(ii) All teachers appointed to the staff of any such school by the education 
authority shall in every case be teachers who satisfy the department as to 
qualification, and are approved as regards their religious belief and character 
by representatives of the church or denominational body in whose interest the 
school has been conducted. 

(iii) Subject to the provisions of section 68 (conscience clause) of the Edu- 
cation (Scotland) Act, 1872, the time set apart for religious instruction or 
observance in any such school shall not be less than that so set apart accord- 
ing to the use and wont of the former management of the school, and the edu- 
cation authority shall appoint as supervisor without remuneration of religious 
instruction for each such school, a person approved as regards religious be- 
lief and character as aforesaid, and it shall be the duty of the supervisor so 
appointed to report to the education authority as to the efficiency of the re- 
ligious instruction given in such school. The supervisor shall have the right 
of entry to the school at all times set apart for religious instruction or ob- 
servance. The education authority shall give facilities for the holding of re- 
ligious examinations in every such school. 

(4) Any question which may arise as to the due fulfillment or observance of 
any provision or requirement of the preceding subsection shall be referred to the 
department, wohse decision shall be final. 

(5) After the expiry of two years from the passing of this act no grant from 
the'Education (Scotland) Fund shall be made in respect of any school to which 
this section applies unless the school shall have been transferred to the educa- 
tion authority, and as from the expiry of that period the Education (Scotland) 
Act, 1897, shall cease to have effect : Provided, That the department may extend 
the said period in any case where, in the opinion of the department, further time 
is required for the completion of a transfer. 

(6) This section shall not apply to any residential institution which 13 
either — 

(a) A school for blind, deaf, or defective children, shown to the satisfaction 
of the department by the person or persons vested with the title of 



EDUCATION IN GEE AT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 131 

the school to be attended largely by children whose parents or 
guardians are resident outwith the education area in which the 
school is situated ; or 
(6) An orphanage shown to the satisfaction of the department by the 
person or persons vested with the title of the orphanage to be re- 
quired for the proper education of children destitute of efficient 
guardianship. 

(7) A school established after the passing of this act to which this section 
would have applied had the school been in existence at that date may, with the 
consent of the department, be transferred to the education authority, and the 
provisions of this section shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to any 
such transfer and to any school so transferred. 

(8) In any case where the department are satisfied, upon representations 
made to them by the education authority of any education area, or by any 
church or denominational body acting on behalf of the parents of children be- 
longing to such church or body, and after such inquiry as the department deem 
necessary, that a new school is required for the accommodation of children whose 
parents are resident within that education area, regard being had to the re- 
ligious belief of such parents, it shall be lawful for the education authority of 
that area to provide a new school, to be held, maintained, and managed by them 
subject to the conditions prescribed in subsection (8) of this section, so far as 
those conditions are applicable ; the time set apart for religious instruction in 
the new school being not less than that so set apart in schools in the same edu- 
cation area which have been transferred under this section. 

(9) If at any time after the expiry of 10 years from the transfer of a 
school under this section or from the provision of a new school as aforesaid, 
the education authority by whom the school is maintained are of opinion that 
the school is no longer required, or that, having regard to the religious belief 
of the parents of the children attending the school, the conditions prescribed in 
subsection (3) of this section ought no longer to apply thereto, the authority 
may so represent to the department, and if the department, after such inquiry 
as they deem necessary, are of the same opinion and so signify, it shall be 
lawful for the education authority thereafter to discontinue the school, or, 
as the case may be, to hold, maintain, and manage the same in all respects as 
a public school, not subject to those conditions: Provided, That in the case of 
any school which has been transferred to an education authority under this 
section, that authority shall in either of those events make to the trustees by 
whom the school was transferred, or to their successors in office or representa- 
tives, such compensation (if any) in respect of the school or other property so 
transferred as may be agreed, or as may be determined, failing agreement, by an 
arbiter appointed by the department upon the application of either party. 

(10) Section 39 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872 (which relates to 
consent to transfers of certain schools under section 38 of that act), shall, 
with the necessary modifications, apply to transfers under this section as It 
applies to transfers under the said section 38. 

Reformatory and Industrial Schools. 

19. After the passing of this act it shall be lawful for the Secretary for 
Scotland, with the consent of the Treasury, from time to time to make an order 
transferring to the department any powers relating to reformatory or industrial 
schools in Scotland for the time being possessed by the Secretary for Scotland 
under the Children Act, 1908, or any local act (including any powers which 
have been or may be transferred to the Secretary for Scotland under the said 



132 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

act of 1908), and by such order to make any adjustment consequential on the 
transfer and to provide for any matter necessary or proper for giving full effect 
to the transfer, and on any such order being made the powers so transferred 
shall be exerciseable by the department 

Advisory Council. 

20. It shall be lawful for His Majesty in Council by order to establish an 
advisory council consisting, as to not less than two-thirds of the members, of 
persons qualified to represent the views of various bodies interested in educa- 
tion, for the purpose of advising the department on educational matters, and 
the department shall take into consideration any advice or representation sub- 
mitted to them by the advisory council. 

Education Grants. 

21. (1) In respect of the year commencing the 1st day of April, 1919, and 
every subsequent year, in addition to the sums payable out of the Local Taxa- 
tion (Scotland) Account into the Education (Scotland) Fund under section 15 
of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, there shall be paid into that fund out 
of moneys provided by Parliament : 

(1) A sum equal to the amount of the sums applicable to education in Scot- 
land (other than the Royal Scottish Museum grant, the capital grant for the 
training of teachers, sums spent on the superannuation of school-teachers and 
any sums paid under section 2 or section 50 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 
1872), shown by the appropriation account to have been expended from the 
parliamentary vote for education in Scotland in the year ended the 31st day 
of March, 1914 (hereinafter in this section referred to as "the standard year") ; 
and 

(11) Eleven-eightieths of the excess of the amount of the sums estimated to 
be expended in each year from the vote for education in England and Wales 
(except so far as such sums represent expenses of general departmental ad- 
ministration or sums spent on the superannuation of teachers or expenses of 
services for which in the opinion of the Treasury after consultation with the 
department Scotland already receives an equivalent by way of direct contribu- 
tion or of common benefit) over the amount of the sums shown by the appro- 
priation account to have been so expended in the standard year (with the like 
exception) : Provided, That if the amount of the sums (with the exception afore- 
said) actually expended in any year from the vote for education in England and 
Wales, as shown by the appropriation account, exceeds or falls short of the 
corresponding estimate, the sum to be paid into the Education (Scotland) Fund 
in terms of paragraph (ii) of this subsection in the year commencing the 1st 
day of April next following the day on which such appropriation account is 
presented to Parliament shall be increased or reduced as the case may be by 
eleven-eightieths of the difference between such expenditure and estimate. 

(2) (a) After providing for the payments mentioned in subsection (1) of 
sction 16 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, the balance of the Education 
(Scotland) Fund that may remain in any year shall be applied as nearly as 
may be in making grants in aid of the expenditure of education authorities (or 
outgoing school boards and secondary education committees) and managers of 
schools in accordance with minutes of the department laid before Parliament. 

Provided that no minute of the department framed under this section shall 
come into force until it has lain for not less than one month on the table of 
both Houses of Parliament 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 133 

(6) Subsections (2), (3), and (4) of section 16, and sections 17 and 18 of 
the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, shall cease to have effect. 

Election and Proceedings of Education Authorities. 

22. The members for an electoral division of an education area shall be 
elected by the persons registered as local government electors for that division 
under the Representation of the People Act, 1918. 

23. The voting at any contested election of members of an education au- 
thority shall be according to the principle of proportional representation, each 
elector having one transferable vote as defined by this act. 

24. (1) No resolution of an education authority for the dismissal of a 
certificated teacher from their service shall be valid unless — 

(a) Written notice of the motion for his dismissal shall, not less than 

three weeks before the meeting at which the resolution is adopted, 
have been sent to the teacher and to each member of the education 
authority ; and 

(b) Not less than one-half of the members of the education authority are 

present at the meeting; and 

(c) The resolution is agreed to by two-thirds of the members so present. 
(2) Notwithstanding anything in this act, it shall be lawful for any school 

management committee summarily to suspend any teacher from the exercise 
of his duties in any school or schools under their management ; but such sus- 
pension shall not affect the teacher's rights to the salary or other emoluments 
attached to his office. 

******* 

25. It shall be the duty of every education authority within three months 
after the first election thereof to establish an advisory council (in this act 
called a " local advisory council " ) , consisting of persons qualified to represent 
the views of bodies interested in education, for the purpose of advising the 
authority on matters of educational interest relating to the education area, 
and the authority shall take into consideration any advice or representation 
submitted to them by the local advisory council. 

26. The department, on the application of an education authority, may within 
12 months after the first election of such authority, from time to time make 
such orders as appear to them necessary for bringing this act into full operation 
as respects the authority so applying, and such order may modify any enact- 
ment in this or any other act, whether general or local, so far as may appear to 
the department necessary for the said purpose. 

General. 

27. (1) The department may, after considering any representations made 
to them on the subject, approve any scheme or revised scheme or modification 
of an existing scheme submitted to them under this act by an education au- 
thority, and thereupon it shall be the duty of the education authority to carry 
the same into effect as so approved. 

(2) If the department are of opinion that a scheme does not make adequate 
provision in respect of all or any of the purposes to which the scheme relates, 
and the department are unable to agree with the authority as to what amend- 
ments should be made in the scheme, they shall offer to hold a conference with 
the representatives of the authority, and if requested by the authority shall 
hold a public inquiry in the matter. The expenses of any such inquiry as 
certified by the department shall be paid by the authority. 



134 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

(3) If thereafter the department disapprove a scheme they shall notify 
the authority and if, within one month thereafter, an agreement is not reached 
they shall lay before Parliament the report of the public inquiry (if any) to- 
gether with a report stating their reasons for such disapproval and any action 
they intend to take in consequence thereof by way of withholding or reducing 
any grants payable to the authority. 

28. A woman shall not be disqualified either by sex or marriage from being 
a member of any education authority, or committee thereof, or school manage- 
ment committee, or school committee, or advisory council, or any other body 
constituted, elected, nominated, or appointed for educational purposes under 
or in pursuance of this act. 

***** * * 

30. The Scotch Education Department shall be known as the Scottish Educa- 
tion Department. 

83. (1) This act shall extend to Scotland only. 

(2) This act shall, except as otherwise expressly provided, come into opera- 
tion on the appointed day, and the appointed day shall be such day as the 
department may appoint, and different days may be appointed for different 
purposes and for different provisions of this act (including the repeal of different 
enactments), for different areas or parts of areas, and for different persons or 
classes of persons. 



IRELAND. 



In spite of the political unrest that has prevailed in Ireland dur- 
ing the past few years, the country has been affected by the educa- 
tional progress of England, Wales, and Scotland. If the pressure 
of circumstances has emphasized the demands for increases of salary, 
that problem is intimately associated with the desire to improve the 
professional status of teachers and thereby to improve the schools. It 
is beginning to be recognized that Ireland's greatest need in educa- 
tion is not so much the reform of this or that branch of education as 
a unification of the different interests into a national system. Few 
countries can produce a parallel to the tripartite scheme of adminis- 
tration that must inevitably retard educational progress in Ireland. 
Even though the functions of the Commissioners of National Educa- 
tion, who have charge of elementary education, the Intermediate 
Education Board, which administers secondary education, and the 
Department of Agricultural and Technical Education do not as a 
rule overlap, they necessarily lead to a conception of education by 
compartments, which is difficult from the administrative standpoint 
and unjustifiable on public grounds. To these difficulties must be 
added the sectarian situation, which is another factor that militates 
against any plans for a successful national scheme. The political ele- 
ment, disturbing as it is for national welfare, has not affected the course 
of education recently, and it is probable that education is the one ques- 
tion on which all political parties could cooperate, just as all parties 
and creeds appear to speak with one voice on the inadequacy of the 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 135 

sums received from the imperial treasury in its relation to Irish 
education. 

The association of some teachers with the Sinn Fein rebellion of 
1916 gave rise to a general charge against the character of the 
teaching in the national schools. As the result of an inquiry, con- 
ducted by the Commissioners of National Education, the conclusion 
was reached that the amount of disaffection among teachers was very 
slight, and that "even in districts where it might be supposed that 
disaffection would be apparent, they found many signs in the pupils' 
exercises that distinctly loyal ideas had been encouraged by the 
teachers." It might be pointed out, however, as the commissioners 
did, that national teachers are forbidden to take part in political 
agitation. The charges that were leveled against the teachers were 
extended to the textbooks in history ; on examination of these books 
the commissioners ordered that the use of some of them should be dis- 
continued. Textbooks are issued by commercial publishers, and their 
use is sanctioned by the commissioners. 

During the period of the war school attendance has declined some- 
what as a result of the exploitation of child labor. In order to en- 
courage pupils to remain at school at least until the completion of 
the sixth grade instead of drifting away into blind-alley occupations, 
the national commissioners in June, 1916, inaugurated the experi- 
ment of introducing an examination for the higher grade certificates 
for boys and girls who have passed the sixth grade. The experiment 
was successful in Belfast and is to be extended to Dublin and Cork. 
It is hoped that the certificates will come to be recognized by larger 
employers as the minimum educational qualifications for employment. 

The course of the war imposed large economies on educational ex- 
penditure, particularly in such matters as buildings, printing, and 
the collection of statistics. The rapid rise in the cost of living worked 
particular hardship on teachers of all grades, since salaries in many 
cases fell below the minimum standard wage of $6 a week paid to 
agricultural laborers. In July, 1914, a new scale of salaries, with 
annual instead of the prevailing triennial increments, was promised 
to elementary school-teachers, but was not put into force owing to the 
outbreak of war. From July 1, 1916, a war bonus came into effect 
for those in receipt of salaries below $15 a week; the total cost of 
this increase for the year was $825,000, giving an average bonus of 
about 80 cents a week. This did not quell the agitation, which seemed 
to divert the energies of Irish teachers from their real function. In 
September, 1917, largely as a result of the example set by Mr. Fisher's 
additional grant to English education, the sum of $1,920,000 was 
granted for Irish elementary education over and above the ordinary 
estimates, as the equivalent of Ireland's share in the imperial taxa- 
tion. A large share of this sum is to be devoted to salary increases. 



136 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

More extensive reforms are needed, however, than the improvement 
of the teachers' status. Something has been done to develop school 
gardens, and special courses in horticulture are given to teachers in 
training to promote this work. Medical inspection of school children 
has hardly had a beginning, and, although funds are provided since 
1914 for the payment of grants for dental clinics, they have as vet 
shown no development, since local authorities are unable to levy local 
rates for the purpose. In 1914 power was given to provide meals to 
necessitous children in the schools, but this measure is also likely to 
languish, owing to the inertia of local bodies. Attempts to expand the 
curriculum by the introduction of woodwork for boys and domestic 
science for girls are blocked not only by lack of funds locally, but by 
the inability to secure more money from the Treasury. A revision 
of the school programs is under way, and the need is felt of making 
them more adaptable to the demands of industrial and rural centers. 
Conferences have been conducted with teachers, inspectors, principals 
of secondary and technical schools, and chambers of commerce. Espe- 
cially urgent is the provision of more opportunities for boys and 
girls between the ages of 12 and 16. Other needs that are recognized 
are the provision of pensions, increased grants for teacher-training 
colleges, the establishment of higher elementary schools and day and 
evening continuation schools, the appointment of divisional inspec- 
tors, the supply of books and stationery for pupils, and residence 
grants for teachers. It is estimated that these reforms would require 
additional grants rising from about $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 a year. 
But the realization of even these plans of reorganization would only 
be a very partial installment of the complete revision that Irish educa- 
tion needs to-day to stimulate local effort, to develop local systems of 
administration, and to articulate all branches of education from the 
infant schools to the universities. 

Secondary or intermediate education shows in Ireland, as elsewhere 
in the British Isles, increased attendance; and each year produces a 
larger number of candidates for the examinations conducted by the 
Intermediate Education Board. Since 1908 the examination system 
which was established in 1878, and upon the results of which grants 
are paid by the board to the schools, has been supplemented by a 
system of inspection. In 1913 the examination of pupils below the 
age of 14 was abolished. During the past four years there has been 
a recrudescence of the criticism periodically leveled against the sys- 
tem. The board states in its report for 1916 that the system has its 
limitations, and that an examination conducted once a year is not a 
test. The board has only a fixed sum to devote to the support of inter- 
mediate education, and the success of one school means the diminution 
of the grant to another. Struggling schools can not be assisted, new 



EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 137 

ones can not be established without reducing the grants, and facilities 
can not be extended to encourage elementary school pupils to continue 
to a higher education. Finally, the board had until recently no power 
of investigating schools which may still produce successful results 
in the examinations without being efficient in other desirable respects. 
The board is inclined to favor two examinations, the one leading to 
the intermediate certificate at about the age of 16, and the other to 
the leaving certificate at the age of 19. The grants should not depend 
primarily on examination results but should be distributed on a 
capitation basis to schools meeting certain standards of efficiency; 
for example, in such matters as the maintenance of regular attend- 
ance, the qualifications of teachers, and the number of pupils pre- 
sented for the two examinations mentioned. Only in some such way 
could adaptation to modern needs be encouraged. 

Similar recommendations have been urged by the teachers, who, 
although actuated primarily by the urgent need for an improvement 
in their economic and professional status, are also ready to promote 
the new tendencies. As in the case of elementary education, the 
reform of secondary education is closely dependent on financial con- 
siderations. Intermediate education is supported by the local taxa- 
tion duties and certain funds resulting from the disestablishment of 
the Irish church. These sums are decreasing, while the number of 
schools and pupils is constantly increasing. Ireland demands a share 
in the imperial revenue equivalent to those given to England and 
Wales and Scotland. It is variously estimated that this share would 
amount to about $500,000. In 1917 an equivalent grant of $250,000 
was secured for Irish intermediate education, part of which was for 
the establishment of courses for teachers, part set aside for aiding 
buildings and equipment, and the rest to be distributed as a capita- 
tion grant among the schools complying with certain conditions. 
The most important of these conditions is that a school, must employ 
a qualified* teacher for the first 40 pupils and an additional teacher 
for each additional 20 pupils. Such teachers must be paid $100 a 
year over the minimum set down in the regulations governing the 
distribution of the Birrell grant of $200,000 a year, passed in 1914. 
These regulations require that lay teachers for purposes of this 
grant, which was intended for the increase of salaries, must hold a 
university degree or have had two years of experience, and be paid 
a minimum salary of $700 a year, if men, and $450 a year, if women. 
Much dissatisfaction has attended the distribution of the Birrell 
grant, and the increases of salary of qualified lay teachers have been 
slight; the situation is well indicated by the fact that the highest 
salary paid to a lay teacher in a Roman Catholic school is $800 a 
year, while only a few receive over $1,000 and still fewer over $1,500 
a year in Protestant schools. 



138 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

The teachers have, however, an opportunity of developing profes- 
sional solidarity which should in time lend weight to their recom- 
mendations. The Birrell Act of 1914 provided for the establishment 
of a registration council for intermediate teachers. A council was 
appointed in 1915 and, although it drafted rules in the same year, 
nothing further was accomplished until April, 1918, when the inter- 
mediate board assumed its functions and issued rules in the following 
month. Until 1925 it is expected that existing teachers can. be regis- 
tered without much difficulty. Ultimately the qualifications for reg- 
istration required will be raised to include a university degree or its 
equivalent, a diploma indicating a year of professional training, and 
three years of experience. These requirements should stimulate the 
professional training of secondary school teachers, especially men, as 
•nothing else has done. With a trained teaching profession it seems 
hardly possible that the present system should continue unaltered. 

The view has already gained wide acceptance that future progress 
of Irish education requires the establishment of a ministry of educa- 
tion with three divisions, for elementary, secondary, and technical 
education, and an advisory council for each. The needed reforms 
in secondary education have been summarized in the report made in 
July, 1917, by its education committee to the senate of Queen's Uni- 
versity, Belfast: 

That this committee is convinced that the time has come for a thorough re- 
organization of secondary education in Ireland; (1) in order to improve the 
tone and character of education by limiting the pressure of examinations, and 
giving, subject to proper superintendence, greater freedom to the teachers and 
managers of schools; (2) in order to raise the status and add to the remuner- 
ation of secondary-school teachers, so as to attract able and highly trained 
persons to the profession ; (3) in order to obtain a close coordination of primary 
and secondary systems of education by placing them under one control ; that 
to secure these ends much larger financial provision for education should be 
made by the State; and that. the grant to Ireland should be proportionately 
equivalent to that which is proposed for England and Scotland. 

This report, combined with the statement by the Intermediate Edu- 
cation Board of the limitations of the system that it administers, 
should be far-reaching in their effects. Such considerations need to 
be further supplemented by inquiries into the possible sources of aid 
from local authorities which hitherto have given very little support 
to secondary education, slight support to elementary education, and 
comparatively large assistance to technical education. Committees of 
inquiry, though limited to investigations of the status of teachers, 
were appointed during 1918. Neither of these can go very far in the 
consideration of their problems without branching out into the larger 
and more important problem that is still far from solution — the re- 
construction of Irish education in all its phases. 

o 



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